Costa Crimes 2: This time it’s personal.
When Diego Costa was charged with violent conduct for stamping on Liverpool’s Emre Can back in January, Jose Mourinho blew his lid live on Sky Sports.
The Chelsea manager decried against what he believed was a media driven campaign against his team.
Well, we could be set for the sequel, because Diego Costa has being charged with violent conduct for an incident during Saturday’s game against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
An FA statement released this evening reads:
Diego Costa has been charged for an alleged act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video. The Chelsea forward was involved in an incident with Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny in the 43rd minute of the game. He has until 6pm tomorrow [Tuesday 22 September 2015] to reply.
Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees. Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision by the panel must be unanimous.
Arsenal defender Gabriel, who received a red-card during the game, has been charged with improper conduct, while Santi Cazorla has been warned about future behaviour.
Both clubs have until 6pm on Thursday to appeal, with Arsenal expected to appeal the defender’s charge.
If found guilty, Costa could receive a three-game ban.
