Chelsea striker Diego Costa admits bib incident was a ‘mistake’

The Blues secured their last-16 spot through Ivan Marcano’s first-half own goal and Willian’s sweet strike after the break.

Mourinho confronted Costa over his performance during Chelsea’s Champions League win at Maccabi Tel Aviv last month and benched the Spain worldwide for subsequent Premier League matches against Tottenham and Bournemouth as tensions between the two became increasingly public.

Gabriele Marcotti believes that although Chelsea’s progress in the Champions League in midweek was a boost, it isn’t enough to save boss Jose Mourinho.

Dinamo Kiev’s win against Maccabi Tel Aviv sends them through second, with Mourinho pleased to benefit from good fortune amid a woeful Premier League title defence that has seen eight defeats in 15 outings.

“But when we [Mourinho and his coaching staff] won in Porto in 2004 we were not a candidate; when we won in Inter in 2010 we were not a candidate”.

The players are feeling that and I think it is a bit of an attack to their confidence and to their self-esteem.

Jose Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid did not end very well, as the media reported that he had fallen out with a number of players.

Chelsea could be in the Premier League’s relegation zone by the time of their next game with Leicester on Monday.

“When we were a candidate we lost two semi-finals with Real Madrid, we lost two semi-finals with Chelsea. The start of the season has not been good for me, not in how I have played nor in goals”, he said.

One thing he should be able to control is finishing and scoring goals, which, despite Mourinho’s praise, was an issue yesterday as well when he took just two shots. Luck is part of the game.

“We made a couple of mistakes and we’re out of the elite competition, but the Europa League will be another challenge”, he said according to AS.

Olivier Giroud scored all of the Gunners goals in their 3-0 win against direct Group F rivals Olympiacos that qualified the Londoners for the last 16 behind section winners Bayern Munich.