Mourinho: I was disappointed with Costa, but we made up

Jose Mourinho admits he had a minor bust up with Diego Costa at half time of their clash in Israel on Tuesday night.

Costa was involved in the first-half’s major incident when former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim lashed out at the Spain global, earning himself a straight red card shortly after Gary Cahill’s opening goal.

“I reacted. He did too. No problem”, Mourinho said.

The victory against an Israeli outfit that has lost every group game so far, means Chelsea are level on points with Porto and two ahead of Dynamo Kiev going into the last round of matches in two weeks.

Chelsea struck first through Cahill, before strikes from Willian, Oscar and Zouma inside the final 20 minutes of the match turned the screw on their increasingly ragged hosts. “I know if we lose we go to Europa League”. With the draw I don’t know.

“But I don’t believe too much that he can play (against Spurs)”.

“I said in an interview before the match that such a attractive stadium and such a fantastic public deserve a better surface because it was bad and risky”, Mourinho added.

The Maccabi pitch was cutting up terribly but it did not stop Chelsea dominate possession around their opponents’ box as Cesc Fabregas tried to dink the ball over the head of Predreg Rajkovic in goal. “No doubt about the victory, but I think Maccabi deserved a bit more than that”, he said. “Only when we felt we were in danger did we have a good reaction”.

The Blues boss was also asked about comments made by Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who expressed a preference for new champions each season.

Thankfully for Chelsea their one bright note in this season, Willian, would bail them out again – with the Brazilian curling home a trademark free-kick.

Despite playing the full 90 minutes, Cesc Fabregas left Chelsea’s win over Maccabi Tel Aviv with a nasty-looking toe injury. It can be a more important decision in the game.