Mourinho angry at del Bosque over injury to Costa

Champions League Group G

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is furious at Spain boss Vicente del Bosque after believing Diego Costa’s hamstring problem was exacerbated on international duty.

Costa is out of tonight’s Group G clash with Maribor with a hamstring problem which has plagued him this season.

Instead of resting, the £32 million signing from Atletico Madrid played almost every minute of the Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Slovakia and Luxembourg this month and Mourinho does not know if his top-scorer will be fit for Sunday’s match at Manchester United.

“It’s the same problem that he’s having, but now an injury, not an ‘almost injury’,” Mourinho said.

“Let’s see what happens for next weekend (at Old Trafford), but next weekend is not important. Important is tomorrow and tomorrow he cannot play.”

Costa, scorer of nine goals in seven Premier League games, missed Saturday’s win at Crystal Palace and Chelsea have an unchanged squad for their first fixture with a Slovenian side.

Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel (foot) is again absent, while Brazil midfielder Ramires (groin) and Andre Schurrle (illness) are also out.

It is the situation regarding Costa which appears to be frustrating Mourinho most.

“It hurts,” added Mourinho, who has not spoken to Del Bosque about Costa. “You are not happy when you give players in good conditions and you receive the players in bad conditions.

“I had managers with a very open communication, some others they simply don’t care. Year after year after year, I don’t have one single SMS (text message) or one single phone call.

“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 Roy (Hodgson, the England boss).

“It was the only one from all the national teams that had personal, direct contact with me.”

Despite his growing absentee list, Mourinho has no intention of making wholesale changes for a match Chelsea need to win to secure early qualification for the knockout stages.

Mourinho added: “I don’t have Man United in mind. I have Maribor in mind. We must play with what we have, with the best we have.”

Maribor have drawn with Sporting Lisbon and Schalke in their opening two matches and Mourinho is not underestimating a team which reached the group stages at Celtic’s expense.

He said: “We worked today studying them and I’m happy because my players now have the feeling that they are a difficult opponent.”