Del Bosque: Spain not weak for backing down in Diego Costa dispute
Vicente del Bosque claims a Spain call-up for Diego Costa would have been “counter-productive” and insists the Spanish Football Federation was not weak for backing down in a club-versus-country row with Chelsea.
Costa came back from the last Roja games with a groin injury and Blues boss Jose Mourinho placed the blame firmly at the feet of the Brazilian-born striker's adopted national team.
Although Del Bosque claimed he would ignore the former Real Madrid coach's protestations and continue to select Costa, the 63-year-old's squad was noticeably free of the Chelsea star when named on Friday.
Costa went on to star and score in Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday, prompting suggestions his fitness was not as brittle as Mourinho likes to suggest, but Del Bosque thinks that omitting him on this occasion was the right thing to do.
"There is nothing to discuss," he told reporters on Monday when asked about Costa's absence from the squad to face Belarus and Germany over the next 10 days."Somebody has probably suggested that it is a weakness on Spain's behalf but it is not a weakness or arrogance.
"We are football people and fully aware of the situation with Diego. The other day I said he would play against Liverpool, and he did, but two games in the international break would have been counter-productive and damaging to his health."That's the case. It has nothing to do with anything else."
Mourinho suggested after Chelsea's game at the weekend that Cesc Fabregas - who has been integral in the club's unbeaten start to the Premier League season - should not join up with Spain because he was carrying an injury.
However, Del Bosque has refused to let the former Barcelona midfielder drop out without Spain first checking his fitness, which he claims has nothing to do with an erosion of trust in Chelsea or the player, but simply following procedure.
"We have not replaced Fabregas yet because we want him to see our medical staff first," the World Cup 2010-winning coach continued."This is not a lack of confidence in the player or Chelsea's doctors or anything like that, but it's simply procedure for him to be checked up on, for clarification"The Diego Costa case is different to the Fabregas case. For Fabregas, some protocols must be met and there are obligations to comply with.
"There is no lack of trust in the player, who, by the way, has 95 international caps. There is no friction between us and the player; there's no tension or us trying to win one over [Chelsea].
"We're just trying to bring the best players to the squad that we can."Spain host Belarus on Saturday as they chase down Slovakia at the top of their Euro 2016 qualification group, before facing world champions Germany in a friendly on November 18.
