Diego Costa “Out for Several Weeks”, According to Jose Mourinho
By David Rouben
In a bizarre sequence of events in Chelsea’s win over Stoke City, Diego Costa came on for Oscar at the start of the second half, only to be withdrawn 10 minutes later for Didier Drogba. Per the club’s official Twitter account, Mourinho offered an official report on the striker’s status:
Jose: 'Diego has to go home, it is too early. He will be out a couple of weeks, but we have seven weeks to the end of the season.' #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 4, 2015
In addition, Goal.com has provided even further details from the boss:
"He will continue to work the way he does to prevent it, to make the muscle stronger but still elastic and flexible.We don’t believe in operations, I always believe it is the last decision for every injury, we try to be conservative, to train, recover and work, we don’t believe will go the surgery direction.Diego trained yesterday and today, he’s not injured. I don’t know if I will start with him or not because with a muscular injury you need to analyse situation with him.He has had no days off and has been working hard. We did all the tests to confirm two days ago that the muscle is fine, now he needs confidence that it won’t break and he is free to express himself at the maximum intensity."
Heading into this season, Diego Costa’s health was a concern for Chelsea fans, as he finished the end of last season on the sideline. He tried to play for the Champions League final against Real Madrid, but like today, he was subbed off after the opening 10 minutes. Mourinho has also been cautious whenever the international break has rolled around begging Del Bosque in the past not to recall him for international matches because he wasn’t at 100% health.
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Now that it looks like Costa’s re-aggravated the same injury problems that have been nagging him during his career, it’s looking to serve a huge blow for Chelsea as they round out the home-stretch of their Premier League campaign. Thankfully, Loic Remy has stepped up in his absence, having scored the winning goal in their last two matches.
Today’s game was also the first match after an international break, and it was a disastrous one. In the past week, David Alaba is reported out for up to 7 weeks which is a huge blow to Bayern’s Champions League campaign since he was really coming into his own as a world-class player. Argentina also had two friendlies played in the United States, but Messi didn’t feature for either of them; there was no reason to recall him in the first place.
Meanwhile, the MLS decided to schedule games despite the fact that 59 players were called up to 21 different national teams, forcing clubs to drastically alter their starting lineup. Star players should only be playing for important qualifiers for international tournaments. When there is a friendly scheduled, and a player is not at full health, there’s no reason to risk playing him.
International coaches should be more wary of their club manager’s wishes, and if they really insist on playing a star player, special care should be taken towards maintaining their health. Having an injury occur that is beyond the club’s control is something that happens way too often, and it should be addressed sooner rather than later.
Next: Chelsea FC Defeat Stoke City 2-1