Diego Costa wrote history by scoring 49 seconds into the UEFA Super Cup. Chelsea’s unofficial digital chronicleers needed only slightly longer to rewrite the history of Costa’s time at and departure from the club.
Seventy-eight minutes elapsed between Diego Costa’s goals against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup. That was more than enough time for a determined element of Chelsea fans (and supporters) to resurrect a dead horse, only to kill it once more and beat it anew.
Overlooked in the discussion of timelines and texts was the importance of Diego Costa’s desire – his happiness, his mood, his sense of where he belonged.
Antonio Conte and Diego Costa were a perfect match in 2016/17. They were the only two at Chelsea who could match each other’s level of violent exuberance and intensity. Conte’s emotional build-ups in the technical area paralleled Costa’s barrel-chested runs at the defence. Conte screaming directives at his team and shouting at referees and opposing managers mirrored Costa glaring at the defender who cut him down and his forehead-to-forehead repartees with the other team’s enforcer. For every time Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta had to peel Diego Costa away from an opponent, the fourth official had to keep Antonio Conte away from the other manager.
And when Costa scored, he did not care whose turf he was on and whose fans were nearest the goal. He pounded his chest, he punched the air, he challenged everyone to dare question his supremacy. Conte’s celebrations had the same effect. Just ask Jose Mourinho.
Pictures of the two men throughout the season, such as the one accompanying this article, were like two comrades-in-arms or a proud father with his son.
The only manager who could match Conte’s intensity and reach Costa so viscerally is Diego Simeone. Costa and Simeone have much the same relationship as Costa had with Conte. Simeone had one main advantage over Conte: Madrid. Costa wanted to return to Madrid and return to Simeone, and this outweighed his relationship with Chelsea and Conte. In a parallel world where Antonio Conte coached a Spanish club, he and Costa may still be together.
Like anyone else, coaches and players hope to find “the one” who brings out the best in them, the one to whom they will pin their fortunes and futures. Costa found kindred spirits in Antonio Conte and Diego Simeone. Simeone simply had a slight edge.
Chelsea fans should celebrate Diego Costa’s success at Atletico Madrid, just as they do many other ex-Blues who now ply their trade elsewhere. For all the acrimony around Costa’s departure, he was straightforward about his desires and his intentions. Perhaps too much so. He did not toy with Chelsea or leave them in the lurch before forcing a deadline week transfer (man it’s going to be great when he scores a hat trick against Thibaut Courtois). If you thought Chelsea were not on borrowed time you were deluding yourself.
The text was a postscript, the final scene of the crime show where the detective lays out the whole case that you – the viewer – already know because you watched the whole thing develop. It’s not a reveal. It’s a confirmation.
Yes, Costa caused rifts in the locker room when the club and Antonio Conte were already struggling. But he did not screw the club. If anything, he screwed himself by demanding a transfer knowing Atletico Madrid could not register him until 2018. He sat in Atletico’s stand for the first half of last season, which was far better for Chelsea than having him sulk around Stamford Bridge and put forth half efforts on the pitch.
I was and once again am a huge Diego Costa fan. I defended him as long as I could, but eventually had to push for his sale once his attitude became toxic to Antonio Conte’s locker room. Enough time has now passed, and he has conducted himself professionally enough (never kissed a badge before, shut up, Thibaut) that we can all move on, appreciate him for what he is and be glad that he is happy being at his best in the place he wants to be.
Costa is the sort of player I always want on my team, particularly as a centre-forward. I would rather have Costa or a player like Costa than Alvaro Morata or a player like Alvaro Morata. But Diego Costa does not want to be at Chelsea, and Alvaro Morata does. Therefore, 29 is the new 9 and Blue is still the colour.
Desire is everything for Diego Costa. If he was at Chelsea he would not be the player he was for Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. The two are mutually exclusive. Chelsea would not have the player Costa was or the player Costa is, so trying to wish away his sale and think of what might have been is nothing short of fantasy.
Fantasy has its place in football (see Scott’s upcoming column), but not at the expense of sharing Diego Costa’s happiness. At least until the next time Chelsea have to play Atletico.