Mourinho blames Spain for Costa’s injury troubles

Jose Mourinho has blamed Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque for Diego Costa's recent spell on the sidelines.

Jose Mourinho believes the Spanish national team coach is at fault for Diego Costa's recent injury troubles. The Chelsea manager took aim at Vicente Del Bosque and his use of his star striker during Spain's Euro 2016 qualifiers earlier this month. 'Diego has the hamstring (injury) because he played two matches in three days when he was not with us', Mourinho said, referring to Spain's games against Slovakia and Luxembourg. The Portuguese also admitted Costa was suffering from a virus, however he was adamant it was this was not the reason for the striker's recent absence. Speaking ahead of tonight's Capital One fourth round tie with Shrewsbury Town, Mourinho said: 'It was hard, he (Costa) had to go to the hospital and obviously it doesn't help him to recover from his injury'. But he didn't play on Sunday because of the injury, not because of the virus'. Costa has been in stunning form since signing for Chelsea for £32 million from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid. Scoring nine goals in his first seven league games, the Spanish international has helped propel his side to a four point lead at the top of the Premier League. However, he has been affected by the hamstring injury for months. Costa limped out of both last season's La Liga decider and the Champion's League final loss to Real Madrid. He started the opening two games of Spain's disappointing World Cup campaign, but looked unfit in both. Mourinho also said that Costa will miss tonight's trip to Shrewsbury, but there is a chance he could return to face QPR on Saturday. When asked if he felt Costa's injury problems were coming to an end, Mourinho replied: 'But he still has [to play for] the national team in November!' The Chelsea boss will undoubtedly be an anxious spectator should Costa feature in Spain's qualifier against Belarus on November 15th.