Diego Costa is a gifted and original bandit who combines total aggression with maximum disguise.
I figured that out last season, although it took me a while.
But I’m his biggest fan.
Last season I watched him obsessively, rewinding games on my SkyHD box to see exactly how he does what he does.
I studied his large repertoire of deceitful moves and tricks.
My conclusion was that Diego Costa had developed more ways of falling over your foot than any footballer I’d ever seen.
Costa was a full-on nightmare for defenders because he was always abrasive but always innocent, always the aggrieved party. He never owned up once. His face never said, “I kicked you” because it always said “You kicked me.”
He was cunning and focused for sixty seconds in every minute and he went on like that all season and Atletico Madrid won the title by three points while scoring 23 goals less than Barcelona and 27 less than Real Madrid.
At Atletico he was often a lone ranger, stranded upfield in a defensive team, waiting for the ball and figuring out how he could hold it up and gain an advantage.
He won a lot of free-kicks and Atletico scored half their goals from set-pieces.
What did I think of his two stamps and the penalty he was denied?
Well, Costa’s stamp on Emre Can was 100% deliberate. A pro footballer of his calibre always knows exactly where his feet are. His stamp on Skrtel, a very different situation, was also 100% deliberate.
The penalty he was refused?
Having seen that ‘penalty’ five more times this morning, I wouldn’t have given it.
Costa was somewhat isolated and certainly not in a position from which a goal could be scored. As usual, he was looking to dive, looking for a foot to trip over, and he’d positioned himself a yard inside the box with his body between the defender and the ball.
He knew exactly where Skrtel was, arriving on his right, so he did a stepover and then very quickly placed his right ankle where the centreback’s right foot was going to be and took a kick on the lower shin and collapsed in his inimitable way, holding his ankle.
One of the craftiest dives of his recently impressive career.
I wouldn’t have given a penalty – and I’m his biggest fan.
Michael Oliver didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt that home teams often get.
Why not? Because British officials now know that Diego Costa is the hardest player to referee in the Premier League.
28th January 2015