Mourinho Explains Reason for Resting Costa
José Mourinho has said he rested Diego Costa against Schalke because the striker is still struggling from hamstring problems sustained during international duty with Spain and cannot play two games in four days.
Costa, who has scored seven times in his four Premier League starts including a hat-trick against Swansea on Saturday, spent most of the match on the bench as Mourinho wanted to keep him fit for Sunday’s match against Manchester City.
“He has a problem and he can’t play, in this moment, three matches in a week,” said Mourinho. “If he has one week to let the muscle recover he can start again like he was before he had that problem with the national team. But three days, after Saturday, is not enough.
“Not selecting him here was not to protect him for the game for Sunday, but because today he was not in the condition after Saturday. He had a problem in the national team, not with us. And now we have a problem and have to resolve it as best we can. He was not fit enough to start against Schalke.
“On Sunday we believe he will be. Next week against Bolton [in the Capital One Cup], for sure he won’t be. We have to manage the situation until the moment he’s completely fine. I don’t know [how long that will be]. But, if today he had started the game, for sure he could not play on Sunday. We have to go step by step.”
