Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by Schalke in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League match at Stamford Bridge. Man of the moment, Diego Costa was left on the bench with fellow striker, Loic Remy while Didier Drogba was given the nod to start.
Blues manager, Jose Mourinho has revealed his decision to keep Diego Costa on the bench was not because he wanted to give him a rest ahead of the game against Manchester City on Sunday. He made it clear that the Spanish striker was not in the right conditions for the match as he is still recovering from an hamstring problem he picked up while away on international duty.
‘He went to the national team in perfect conditions and came back injured.
‘But what happened to Diego happens to many other players in other national teams. I have nothing to say about it. It’s just what happens. He played one match and was perfect, then went to the national team, played against France and came back injured.’
Even though Costa and Remy had to be introduced in the 74th minute when Chelsea was chasing the game, Mourinho has made it clear that the striker had to be treated with caution as needs a week to recover
‘Costa has a problem and he can’t play in this moment three matches in a week. If he has one week to let the muscle recover, he can start again like he has been since he had that problem with the national team. ‘But three days, after Saturday, is not enough. It was not to protect him for the game for Sunday, but because today he was not in the condition after Saturday.
‘He signed for us and was completely fine. He had a problem again in the national team, not with us.
‘And now we have a problem and now we have to resolve it as best we can. Today he was not in condition to play. Sunday we believe he is.
‘Next week, against Bolton, for sure he isn’t. We have to manage the situation until the moment he’s completely fine. ‘I don’t know (how long that will be). If today he had started the game, for sure he could not play on Sunday. We have to go step by step.’
