Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho took a swipe at Spain coach Vicente del Bosque on Monday, by suggesting that the Spanish national team did not treat striker Diego Costa properly byplaying him during the international break against both Slovakia and Luxembourg despite his ongoing hamstring problem. The Portuguese, who left Costa out of the squad that beat Crystal Palace 2-1 inthe Premier League on Saturday, said the Brazilian-born striker is not fit to play in Tuesday’s game against Maribor in the UEFA Champions League, either, after coming back from internationalduty.
“Sometimes you have national coaches and medical departments that want to establish a relationship and they are interested in the players, their physical condition, theirhabits,” Mourinho said regarding the communication between clubs and national teams. “Some others they simply don’t care. This is not something we can resolve.”
Headded: “In this moment, since the beginning of the season, I think from all the national teams, I think [I have received] one phone call from [England coach] Roy [Hodgson]. It hurts. Youare not happy when you give players in good condition and you receive the players in bad condition.”