Understandably, Spain were out for a bit of revenge when they met Italy in Turin on Thursday night.
Only a few months ago, it was the Italians that sent them packing from Euro 2016 – bringing an end to their eight year reign as continental champions.
Diego Costa wasn’t on the field that day. The Chelsea man had endured a low-key second season with Chelsea, who’d made a right mess of defending the Premier League title they’d won during his first season in west London. Added to that, Vincente del Bosque wasn’t entirely happy about the state of Costa’s hamstring.
Back in the fold, Costa left his teammates in little doubt that he was up for the fight during the opening stages against the Azzurri.
With just a few minutes played, a tangle between Costa and Leonardo Bonucci left the Italian defender writhing around in apparent agony.
Closer inspection of the incident reveals that Costa appeared to slap Bonucci in the face…
https://twitter.com/iftv_official/status/784104985260851200
Thankfully, no serious damage was done to the defender who was back on his feet shortly afterwards.
Costa escaped a red card for the incident, but still picked up a yellow card before the first half was over… but you probably already knew that, didn’t you?
