Chelsea FC: Diego Costa Is Not Violent, Just Intense

Chelsea FC teammates Filipe Luis and Diego Costa spent four years at Atletico Madrid where they won their fair share of titles together. The Brazilian pair helped Atletico lift the Europa League, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Super Cup, and La Liga trophies in their time in Madrid. So who better to tell us about Diego Costa’s intensity than the man at Chelsea FC who has known him the longest?

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Diego Costa built a bit of a reputation at Atleti of being a dirty player. He allegedly spit on an opponent and would constantly try and get under the opposing defenders’ skin. He was a mad man on the pitch when it came down to chasing loose balls and scoring goals but he never really got violent. He never threw punches or bit anyone but he would sometimes be on the receiving end of a punch or two after riling up his opponent.

That is why it was such a surprise to see him banned for what could have been seen as an unintentional stamp on Emre Can. Of course if you examine the incident time and time again in slow motion you can begin to see intent but you can also see that Costa did not even look to see where Can’s foot was in order to stamp on it. It appeared in that case that Costa’s reputation is what got him suspended and not anything he actually did.

His teammate Filipe Luis boils down Costa’s controlled aggression to his competitive nature. Luis told the Mirror that “[Diego Costa] always wants to win. In training, in video games, in cards. Everywhere he plays, he wants to win.”

He also added that the striker will not change his style because “Diego has been playing like this since he started playing football. He never changes and he is not violent or aggressive. He is intense. He tries to win all the balls in any way possible. That’s the kind of player we need and we have that in the team.”

That aggression and will to win is what sets Diego Costa apart from several of the other strikers we have seen at Chelsea FC. Samuel Eto’o would use his tricks in the box but he never intimidated opponents and the same could be said of Demba Ba and Fernando Torres. Romelu Lukaku could have been that player for Chelsea FC but he decided to take his talents elsewhere.

Chelsea FC fans had not seen a striker in blue that opponents feared since Didier Drogba and Costa brings that same level of physicality and intimidation. Drogba was never the type of player to stare down an opponent or try and goad them in to bookings but they knew that he was not a man to be trifled with.