Costa injury frustrates Mourinho
Jose Mourinho is uncertain when he will be able to select Diego Costa for all of Chelsea’s big games as he manages a hamstring problem.
The £32m summer signing from Atletico Madrid has bludgeoned seven goals in four Premier League matches but was only available as a substitute for the opening Champions League Group G clash which Chelsea drew 1-1 with Schalke on Wednesday night.
Mourinho insisted Costa was not fit to start after scoring three times against Swansea last Saturday and ahead of Sunday’s trip to Premier League champions Manchester City.
Costa limped out of last season’s Champions League final with Atletico with a hamstring problem and the injury recurred while on international duty earlier this month with Spain.
“Costa has a problem,” Mourinho said. “He came to us (from Atletico) and he was completely fine. He had a problem again in the national team, not with us.
“If he has one week to let the muscle recover he can start a game. Playing on Saturday, three days is not enough for him to recover.
“It was not to protect for the game Sunday, it was because he was not in condition to start the game. Now we have the problem and now we have to resolve the problem the best we can.
“He was not in condition to play. Sunday we believe he is. Next week against Bolton (in the Capital One Cup), for sure he isn’t. We have to manage the situation until the moment he’s completely fine.”
Chelsea twice beat Schalke 3-0 last term but saw Cesc Fabregas’ first Blues goal cancelled out by Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
Chelsea missed a host of opportunities while it appeared Huntelaar had fouled Fabregas in the build-up to the goal, but Mourinho’s only complaints were with his side’s defending.
“From my position I can’t say that (it was a foul on Fabregas),” Mourinho added. “They scored 1-1 in a counter-attack situation. We made two mistakes.
“One was not to make a foul immediately when they recovered the ball and we had a chance for that.
“The other one was the fact I told my players 20 times (Julian) Draxler wants to come inside for his right foot. It was also a mistake in the box.”
Mourinho felt the performance of Didier Drogba – playing for Chelsea in the Champions League for the first time since his penalty secured the 2012 European Cup – was “positive”.
The Blues boss was frustrated to once again be asked about his choice of goalkeeper after again selecting Thibaut Courtois ahead of Petr Cech.
“I don’t accept that you ask me about the goalkeeper every week,” Mourinho added. “For me it’s just a decision and I can’t say more than I say. What I say is that I have two fantastic goalkeepers, two of the best three goalkeepers in the world. And it’s a fantastic situation for Chelsea.”
