Diego Costa’s latest audacious and unprofessional antics have probably caused even his biggest fans to question whether he is the kind of footballer they want to cheer for.
The latest action in Diego Costa’s career has come off the football pitch as, in a show of tantrum throwing childishness, he threw his training bib at manager Jose Mourinho after not getting the chance to play in Chelsea FC’s match against Tottenham Hotspur FC.
This goes against the entire fiber of a football team, where there is a designated order and the manager reigns supreme. Most players do not have the audacity to question a manager in public, like Costa did during the Champions League match against Macabi Tel-Aviv — shouting and gesticulating at Mourinho, much less make a public show of their displeasure by flinging things at the boss.
The most significant showing of Diego Costa’s childishness came in that highly controversial match against Arsenal. While there are many footballers known for being aggressive on the pitch, and being respected for it at that, it takes a particularly nefarious character to use his hands on the opposition and then hassle and harry them to the point where they retaliate and, the finale of the grand scheme, cry to the referee and plead with him to show the opposition player a card. In the game against Arsenal, Costa proved that he was that nefarious villain.
But despite all the condemnation from fans around the world, the Chelsea manager and fans remained tight lipped about it. They casually shrugged it off as some passionate displays by an aggressive player. They remembered that this was the striker that had helped them win the league last season, bagging 21 goals for them in 37 appearances. As the season progressed it became abundantly clear that Costa was not going to emulate his feats from the previous season.
Having scored just 4 goals in 17 games for Chelsea FC made the critics words even harsher. The general opinion was that he seemed more intent to get under the opposition’s skin than actually scoring goals for the club. This was made apparent from his performances during matches — slow runs, a lack of alertness, misreading passes, they all slowly began weakening his privileged position at Stamford Bridge.
Disrespecting the ‘Special One’ Will Invite Punishment .
Jose Mourinho is a brilliant man manager and has handled numerous top talents in his glorious coaching career, and it was not long before even Mourinho realised that Costa was missing that killer instinct on the pitch. He persisted with the striker, but the bust up during the Tel-Aviv match proved to be too much for him. Despite playing down talks of a rift between them in his usual nonchalant way, Mourinho dropped Costa from the starting XI in the next game.
Great players take setbacks like this in their stride, because even the best sometimes find themselves out of luck and out of form. Costa is not the best player in the world right now and his decision to lash out publicly at the manager could have dire consequences and an exit from the club could be one of them.
Is Costa engineering a move to Atletico?
There is, however, a twist in the tale. A month or two into the current season of the Premier League, there were rumors floating around that Diego Costa had grown tired of life in England and wanted a move back to his former club Atletico Madrid and his home country of Spain.
Those were never confirmed, but this very destructive and audacious behaviour on the part of the striker could just be him practicing his dark arts again, opening up the door for an exit to Spain. But conspiracy theories aside, the one real conclusion that can be drawn when presented with the facts, is that Diego Costa is the man child of Stamford Bridge, and he needs to start scoring again if he wants to continue getting away with his tantrums.