JOSE MOURINHO LAST night insisted Diego Costa’s apparent stamps on Emre Can and Martin Skrtel were “absolutely accidental” before turning his anger towards an unnamed Sky Sports pundit he claims is waging a campaign against Chelsea.
Costa sparked controversy during the Blues’ hard-fought 1-0 win over Liverpool in Tuesday’s League Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge by appearing to deliberately stamp on two Reds players in separate incidents without being punished by referee Michael Oliver, and may yet face retrospective action from the Football Association.
But after the match Mourinho defended his star striker and suggested the accusations were motivated by a pundit that he believes has an agenda against Chelsea and Costa.
“I don’t know what you mean by stamp,” he insisted. “I think maybe you are already influenced by the campaign on television with certain pundits who say Diego Costa ‘crimes’. This guy must be nuts.
“I saw the incidents. About the penalty [when Costa appeared to be felled by Skrtel] I won’t speak, if I comment on that I will be in trouble [with the FA].
“What you call stamps and Sky call ‘crimes’, I have to say it’s absolutely accidental. He chases the ball, he has contact when he’s looking to the ball.
“Great campaign. We know how much that pundit loves me and Chelsea, but when you are paid much more than some managers who put their ass on the bench every week and they are always right, never wrong, get a nice seat.”
When pressed to reveal the identity of the pundit that had attracted his ire, Mourinho responded: “When I see his name, I switch off the television.
“Forget it, let’s go to Wembley. The Chelsea supporters were fantastic. The defeat of last weekend [against Bradford] is our history.”
