Chelsea star Diego Costa: I was wrong to throw a bib at Mourinho, but our relationship is ‘amazing’

All's well: But Costa refused to deny he's interested in Madrid return
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Simon Johnson10 December 2015

Diego Costa today admitted he was wrong to throw a bib at Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, but refused to deny he's interested in a return to Atletico Madrid.

Costa impressed on his first start for a fortnight last night as Chelsea secured a 2-0 win over Porto to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League.

Jose Mourinho had opted to leave him on the bench for the previous two games. That included the League clash at Tottenham, where he was an unused substitute and appeared to deliberately lob his training bib in the Chelsea manager's direction after completing a basic warm-up exercise late on in the match.

The strength of the duo's relationship has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months, but Costa insists there is no issue and accepts he was the one at fault at White Hart Lane.

He told Spanish radio station Onda Cero: “The bib [incident] is in the past. I made a mistake, but my relationship with Mourinho is amazing, we get on really well. There are things you need to control, but the bib thing was an impulse.

“I have to improve a bit. The start of the season has not been good for me - not in how I have played nor in goals.

“The truth is Chelsea haven’t been in a great moment, above all losing the other day at home (against Bournemouth). It was important to win (against Porto) to make the fans happy and to recover our confidence.

"I know I have to be better to go to Euro 2016 with Spain. I have to work hard and fight, but I know I have time to improve and I hope I will."

Costa has scored just four times this term and missed two great opportunities to improve on that tally against Porto at Stamford Bridge.

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The 27-year-old joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid for £32 million in July last year, but has been linked with a transfer back to the Vicente Calderon for the past 12 months.

There has been a lot of speculation over how well he's settled in England, while Costa has also admitted to being upset at the Football Association for handing him two retrospective three-game bans during 2015.

When asked about making a move back to Atletico just as Felipe Luis, who left Chelsea after just 12 months in the summer, did, he said: “You never know, look where Filipe Luis is now.

“Life is full of surprises - I always wish Atletico the best and I always follow them, support them from afar.”

Despite being happy with Costa's display against his former club, Mourinho feels the Spain international is struggling with a lack of self-belief.

The Chelsea coach said: "He could have scored two or three goals. There is a lack of confidence, clearly, but his attitude was very good and his movement was much better, so goals are coming."

Meanwhile, Costa has laughed off his clash with Spain team-mate and Porto keeper Iker Casillas in the first half, which ended up with him receiving a yellow card.

He said: “Nothing happened with Iker, we just had a joke, there are no problems with him.”

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