Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa has fired a subtle dig at his former manager Antonio Conte before Chelsea’s Champions League exit to Barcelona on Wednesday evening.
A brace from Lionel Messi and a first-half strike from Ousmane Dembele sealed a comfortable 3-0 win for Barcelona as Chelsea were knocked out from the competition after losing 4-1 on aggregate.
Costa was the club’s top scorer last season as the blues stormed their way to the Premier League title in Conte’s first season in charge.
However, the Italian made it clear the to the player and the club that he did not want Costa at Stamford Bridge this season.
After Spain’s 2-2 draw with Colombia last year, Costa revealed that Conte delivered a ‘simple message’ which told him that he is no longer part of his first-team plans.
Elite levels of vindictiveness from Diego Costa as he blurs our Antonio Conte’s name. pic.twitter.com/E0YssJHhvp
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) March 14, 2018
The 29-year-old said he would keep the message to prove to people that he is not a liar, while he seemingly has also held onto his grudge with Conte and blanked the manager’s name out of a Chelsea team graphic shown on the television coverage of the game.
Costa has scored three goals in nine games for Atletico this season as Atleti try to keep pace with league leaders Barcelona in La Liga.
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