There’s no athlete in the world of sport quite like Diego Costa. On his day, he’s a brutally effective striker who blends determination, power, physicality and a mean goalscoring streak. On that same day, Costa also demonstrates a red hot temper, a clear lack of self-control and a penchant for the absurd.
Fernando Torres, Diego Costa and Juan Mata have all been omitted from Spain’s 25-man provisional Euro 2016 squad by manager Vincente del Bosque. In Torres and Mata, Spain have elected to drop players who’ve combined for 151 appearances, 48 goals, three European championships, and two World Cup winner’s medals.
Costa suffered a hamstring injury during Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool on May 11, putting his participation immediately in doubt. Costa’s consistent hamstring troubles, coupled with his subpar form this season, have seen him lose his place in the squad.
It's pretty safe to say that unless you're a Chelsea fan, you probably hate Diego Costa. His mastery of the dark arts of football tends to rub a lot of people the wrong way. He is the pantomime villain of the Premier League, the Loki of the world's game, the Iago to the Othello that is the Premier League referee.
Diego Costa says he did not bite Everton's Gareth Barry.
Gareth Barry says Chelsea's Diego Costa did not bite him.
During the opening weekend of the Premier League season, Chelsea striker Diego Costa once again found himself as the center of the attention in the Blues' match against Swansea, as he was involved in two prominent penalty shouts while on the attack. He did not get either call and was quick to show just how upset he was that a penalty was not awarded. Which begs the question: is Diego Costa his own worst enemy at this point?
I watched the Super Bowl. While that’s not shocking, it was the first full American football game I’d seen in months, and it reinforced what I enjoy so much about soccer. Football is staccato, opaque. It’s two identical slanted brick walls falling against each other. Those are characteristics of a game I loved long ago.