Following the 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday against Aston Villa, manager Jose Mourinho has been full of praise for Spanish striker Diego Costa who put in a match winning performance.
In the 34th minute, the Blues took the lead thanks to a simple tap-in from Costa who was given the ball by Willian who pounced on a mistake following a poor clearance from Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
10 minutes into the second half, the lead was doubled after some neat work from Costa who’s shot was then looped over Guzan after a massive deflection off Alan Hutton.
After the game, Mourinho was adamant that the performance from the 27-year-old striker was the key to the win.
Speaking to the official club website, Mourinho said:
Of course, we need him.
The team depends always on a striker like him, from a character, from a personality like him. When we don’t have him, of course we miss him.
The Portuguese manager then went on to discuss the characteristics that Costa has and gives his explanation as to why the former Atletico Madrid striker is so pivotal to our squad.
He is a very good player and sometimes personality qualities add something to the team.
You always try to find in teams leaders or different kinds of leaders.
Diego doesn’t speak English so well to be fluent and be a leader in the dressing room, but in a game, the way he plays, the way he gives his body to the cause – because his body is always very punished – is brilliant. The team needs that.
The character, the personality, the movement, the starting pressure (high) up, to stretch the game when the team is under pressure, to stretch the game and to ask for the ball in the space and to let the team come out of the pressure zones. He has a lot of tactical qualities that the team needs.
