Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers thinks that Chelsea striker Diego Costa was lucky to have stayed on the pitch after he appeared to stamp on the legs of two Liverpool players during last night’s Capital One Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge.
With a Wembley final meeting with either Tottenham or Sheffield United on the line fans were treated to a high-paced heated-affair, and despite yet another impressive display from Liverpool they were beaten 1-0 with Chelsea moving on to the final 2-1 on aggregate.
Tempers came close to boiling over a couple of times, but it was Diego Costa who was the centre of talk after appearing to have stamped on the legs of Emre Can and Martin Skrtel.
Somehow the Spaniard seemed to go unpunished despite the incident with Can happening in front of both dugouts with the linesman and fourth official watching.
Having now had time to watch replays of the events, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers feels that Costa committed the fouls intentionally.
“He’s an outstanding player, an outstanding footballer, but he has this edge to him,” said the Reds boss.
“I don’t think anyone watching likes to see what Diego Costa’s done, not just on Skrtel, but also on Can, a young player who is clearly stamped on.
“With Emre, that was poor, I felt. He could easily hurdle over the young player and he directs his studs right on to his ankle, which could’ve been nasty.
“And again the one with Martin. There’s no need to do it. That’s the sad thing of it. He’s a top-class player and he’s clever enough that the officials don’t see it.
“It’s easy to land somewhere else without having to land directly on an opponent’s ankle and it’s disappointing to see on the replay.
“It was poor from him. He doesn’t need to do it. It wasn’t good for the game.
“He’s very fortunate the linesman and referee didn’t see that.”
The Liverpool boss claims that his side were the best team over the two-legs and that it was Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois who saved Chelsea on a few occasions to give the Blues the win.
“I’m very proud of the team, over the two legs we were the better side and their goalkeeper has got them to the final,” the Northern Irishman added.
“At Anfield and here tonight he’s made very, very important saves and that’s won them the game.
“Obviously they got the goal at the beginning of extra-time but that was irrelevant – we knew we needed to score tonight and the players gave everything. They’re dead on their feet at the end
“We pressed, worked hard, played fantastic football and created chances to win the game but unfortunately we were not clinical enough.”
Have a look at the Costa incidents in the video below, and decide for yourself if he meant to do it.
http://youtu.be/CpniB_8upG8
