Chelsea
striker Diego Costa is set to miss the next fortnight after suffering a
recurrence of his hamstring injury, according to manager Jose Mourinho.
The Spain forward was forced off after just 11 minutes of action as a
second-half substitute during the Blues' 2-1 victory over Stoke at Stamford
Bridge, live on Saturday Night Football.
Costa was introduced at half-time by Mourinho as a replacement for Oscar,
with the score at 1-1, but had to replaced himself with Didier Drogba coming
on.
Mourinho admitted the club are taking risks on Costa’s fitness as they push
for the Premier League title but insisted there is no problem with the
medical department.
“If my medical department decides to take four weeks to recover Diego, this
wouldn’t have happened – but we have to take risks,” Mourinho told Sky
Sports.
“I risk sometimes as a manager, with a half-time score I don’t like, in the
second half. You have to.
“The medical department risks a little bit. It’s true that all the scans two
days ago were clean and he trained 100 per cent, twice, where he did much
more than he did today.
“My medical department is fantastic so there is no problem with them and
next week we will wait for Diego again. For sure he will be out for a couple
of weeks, minimum.”
Costa missed games in October and Febuary with the problem and started on
the bench at Stamford Bridge before being introduced as a half-time
substitute.
He has played 34 times for Chelsea this season, scoring 19 goals, following
a £32m move from Atletico Madrid last summer.
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