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José Mourinho hits out at Spain’s handling of Diego Costa injury José Mourinho hits out at Spain’s handling of Diego Costa injury
(about 4 hours later)
José Mourinho has spoken of his simmering discontent over uncommunicative national team managers concerning the treatment of Chelsea players in the continued absence of the striker Diego Costa. Eventually José Mourinho could take no more, his patience worn thin by questions about one man’s troublesome hamstring. “I don’t speak about Diego Costa,” the Chelsea manager said. “I don’t want to speak about injured players. If injured, they’re injured. If he’s not here, he’s not here.”
The Spain striker will miss Tuesday’s Champions League Group G home match against Maribor with a hamstring problem that has plagued him persistently this season. Costa is definitely not here, at least for the time being, but he remains impossible to ignore, such is the impact he has made during his short time at Chelsea. Having missed Saturday’s victory over Crystal Palace, the striker will be absent for Tuesday night’s visit of Maribor in the Champions League, after what Mourinho described as an “almost” hamstring injury progressed into an actual hamstring injury, and Chelsea’s primary concern now is ensuring Costa is fit for Sunday’s trip to Manchester United.
Mourinho believes it was exacerbated by playing against Slovakia and Luxembourg during the international break and took a swipe at the Spain manager, Vicente del Bosque. “It is the same problem he’s having,” Mourinho said. “But now an injury, not an almost injury. It’s simple. He’s not training because he’s not in condition to do so. I have no idea how long. Tomorrow he cannot play. The weekend is not important but he cannot play tomorrow.”
“It’s the same problem that he’s having but now an injury, not an almost injury,” said Mourinho, who is uncertain when Costa will return. Although Mourinho would not confirm the extent of the injury – “you want to know too much,” he winked – the fear always exists this is an elaborate double-bluff, that there is no chance of Costa not starting against United. There was similar talk before last month’s game against Manchester City and Costa played.
“It’s simple. He’s not training because he’s not in condition to do it. Tomorrow he cannot play. Let’s see what happens for next weekend but next weekend is not important. I don’t have Manchester United [on Sunday in the Premier League] in mind. I have Maribor in mind.” He will not play on Tuesday night and Loïc Rémy will again be given a chance to remind us of his qualities, while Mourinho has Didier Drogba in reserve. “Costa is our best scorer and very important but we have two great strikers available and I’m sure we will not have any problems,” the midfielder Nemanja Matic said.
Costa has scored nine goals in seven Premier League games but was absent for Saturday’s win at Crystal Palace. Mourinho shook his head when asked if he would rest players against Maribor with a view to keeping his side fresh for the trip to Old Trafford; not that injuries to Ramires, Mikel John Obi and André Schürrle have left him with much room for manoeuvre. “I don’t have Manchester United in mind, I have Maribor in mind,” Mourinho said. “I don’t rest players.”
Chelsea have the same squad as at Palace for their first fixture with a Slovenian side, with the Nigeria midfielder Mikel John Obi (foot) absent and the Brazil midfielder Ramires (groin) and the Germany forward André Schürrle (illness) also missing despite training on Monday. Respect was offered to Maribor, who are unbeaten in eight Champions League matches this season. The Slovenian side are second in Group G after their first two matches, having drawn at home to Sporting Lisbon and away to Schalke, and Mourinho will not underestimate them as Chelsea seek to cement their position at the top of the group. He will recall that Chelsea were held by Schalke in their previous European home game. Missing that night? Costa.
It is the situation regarding Costa which appears to be frustrating Mourinho most. “Sometimes you have national coaches and medical departments that want to establish a relationship and they are interested in the players, their physical condition, their habits. Some others they simply don’t care. This is not something we can resolve. Chelsea’s desire to wrap Costa in cotton wool is understandable given he has scored nine goals in his first nine matches since his £32m move from Atlético Madrid. Mourinho was frustrated to see him start twice for Spain in their recent European Championship qualifiers, leading him to criticise national associations for not communicating with clubs enough.
“In this moment, since the beginning of the season, I think from all the national teams, I think [I have received] one phone call from Roy [Hodgson].” “There are no rules, no laws to protect us, just the mentality of the national coaches and teams,” he said. “It’s up to them to take good care of the players or to think in a selfish way. It’s up to them, not to us.
Mourinho declined to reveal details of the conversation with Hodgson but the defender Gary Cahill was carrying an ankle injury at the start of September before England’s match with Switzerland. “I’m not the kind of guy to tell players not to go or to pretend they have problems. I stimulate them to go and like them to go. Our club likes players to go and succeed with national teams and play in big competitions, Euros, World Cups.
Mourinho revealed how the Croatia manager, Igor Stimac, called him three times a week about the midfielder Luca Modric when he was Real Madrid manager as an example of communication. “But sometimes you have national coaches and medical departments in federations that want to establish relations and are interested in players, what they are doing, their moment in terms of physical condition and habits around matches. Some others simply don’t care.
“It hurts,” Mourinho said. “You are not happy when you give players in good condition and you receive the players in bad condition.” “But we can’t resolve that. I can’t ring up and ask to speak to the manager or doctor. That’s out of our hands. I had in my career a few of them in permanent contact with me, permanent contact: ‘Is he is condition? Strong enough to play two games? What to do between matches? What does before a game physically?’ I had some with very open communication but others, year after year, not one single SMS or phone call.”
Mourinho said England’s Roy Hodgson was the only international manager he had spoken to since the start of the campaign. “In this moment, since the beginning of the season, I think from all national teams, one phone call from Roy,” he said.
“That’s the only one. This is the situation. He was the only one from all national teams that had personal direct contact with me.”
A far cry from when the conversations he would have with the former Croatia manager, Igor Stimac, about Luka Modric. “When I was in Real Madrid, with Luka Modric, Stimac, three calls a week,” he said. “Three calls a week.” Mourinho sounded like he enjoyed those chats.