Diego Costa being deliberately provoked by opponents: Blues manager Conte
Sep 12, 2016 at 10:52 AM
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has asked the referees to let Diego Costa play his football as he is yet again in the center of controversy in their 2-2 draw against Swansea at Liberty Stadium.
Having scored two goals for Chelsea, Diego Costa was the key target man for Blues but Swansea defenders were involved in too much of physical game with the Spanish international.
The 27-year old was fouled seven times in the game, the most for any player in the match and was also booked in the second half of the game due to heated battle against Swansea’s Jordi Amat which makes it three bookings in four Premier League games so far.
Jordi Amat was also booked in the 48th minute for his head clash with Costa and was lucky not to be sent off before the end of the game. The result meant Conte’s perfect start to the campaign came to an end at Liberty Stadium as the Blues now trail Manchester City by two points.
“If you ask me if the defender [Amat] deserved a second yellow card, I don’t want to reply about this,” Conte said at his postmatch news conference.
“I will say only that after every game, the press ask me about the passion of Diego Costa, about his behaviour. Today I can say he had fantastic behaviour to control the situation, because he took a lot of kicks from the first minute until the end of the game.
“I’m pleased because he showed me, he showed his teammates and he showed everyone that he had fantastic behaviour, and it wasn’t easy.
“I think that defenders know him and sometimes try to provoke him. I was a footballer and this situation is normal.
“You know that Diego is a player with great passion and they try to provoke. This is football, not only in England, not only with Diego, but in general in the world. But I also think that referees must see and permit Diego to play his football.”