Jose Mourinho’s relationship with Diego Costa came under renewed scrutiny after the Chelsea manager dropped the striker for Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
The point left the reigning champion languishing in the bottom half of the table, while Tottenham — now unbeaten in 13 league games — was left frustrated after failing to take a chance to put pressure on the top four.
But it was Mourinho’s decision to leave Costa on the bench, having clashed with the Spain international at half-time of the mid-week Champions League win away to Maccabi Tel Aviv, that drew most attention.
It clearly angered the striker, who did not take part in the pre-match warm-up and tossed his bib towards Mourinho as the game neared its conclusion.
Mourinho explained his decision to drop Costa by claiming the 27-year-old was lacking in confidence, having found the net only four times this season.
“He’s playing every match and things are not going really well for his confidence,” Mourinho told BT Sport prior to kick-off at White Hart Lane.
Chelsea captain John Terry was also absent after failing to recover from the ankle injury he picked up during the 4-0 victory in Israel.
That meant Kurt Zouma and Gary Cahill were paired at the heart of the visitors’ defence, while Eden Hazard was pushed forward to fill the hole left by the brooding Costa.
The results: Premier League: On Sunday: Tottenham 0 drew with Chelsea; West Ham 1 (Zarate 17) drew with West Brom 1 (Reid 50-og).
On Saturday: Aston Villa 2 (Richards 41, Ayew 89) lost to Watford 3 (Ighalo 17, Hutton 69-og, Deeney 85); Bournemouth 3 (Smith 80, Stanislas 87, 90+8) drew with Everton 3 (Funes Mori 25, Lukaku 36, Barkley 90+5); Crystal Palace 5 (McArthur 14, 90, Bolasie 17, 47, Zaha 41) bt Newcastle 1 (Cisse 10); Manchester City 3 (de Bruyne 9, Delph 20, Kolarov 69) bt Southampton 1 (Long 49); Sunderland 2 (van Aanholt 82, Watmore 84) bt Stoke 0.
La Liga: On Sunday: Getafe 2 (Lafita 21, Alvaro Vazquez 51) bt Villarreal 0.
On Saturday: Atletico Madrid 1 (Griezmann 3) bt Espanyol 0; Malaga 2 (Charles 45, Fornals 57) drew with Granada 2 (El Arabi 82, Rochina 85); Las Palmas 0 lost to Deportivo la Coruna 2 (Simon 19-og, Lucas Perez 90); Celta Vigo 2 (Orellana 15, Nolito 85) bt Sporting Gijon 1 (Castro 65); Barcelona 4 (Neymar 22, 53, Suarez 41, Messi 90+1) bt Real Sociedad 0.
On Saturday: Bayern Munich 2 (Muller 34, Coman 41) bt Hertha Berlin 0; Werder Bremen 1 (Ujah 62) lost to Hamburg 3 (Ilicevic 3, Gregoritsch 26, Muller 68); Hannover 96 4 (Marcelo 5, Andreasen 11, Karaman 24, Bech 85) bt Ingolstadt 0; Hoffenheim 3 (Zuber 11, Polanski 35, Amiri 47) drew with Borussia Monchengladbach 3 (Johnson 5, 87, Drmic 56); Mainz 05 2 (Muto 5, Mali 42) bt Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Seferovic 61).
Serie A: On Sunday: Genoa 1 (Figueiras 8) lost to Carpi 2 (Borriello 57, Zaccardo 80); Roma 0 lost to Atalanta 2 (Gomez 40, Denis 82-pen); Frosinone 3 (Ciofani 22-pen, 40, Dionisi 48) bt Verona 2 (Viviani 69, Moras 75); Chievo 2 (Paloschi 26, Inglese 72) lost to Udinese 3 (Frey 42-og, Thereau 46, 80).
On Saturday: Torino 2 (Belotti 75, Vives 90+2) bt Bologna 0; AC Milan 4 (Bonaventura 16, Niang 38-pen, 49, Adriano 79) bt Sampdoria 1 (Eder 87-pen).
