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20th May 2016

Mousa Dembélé breaks his silence on Diego Costa ‘eye-gouging’ incident

Emotional

Tom Victor

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembélé has spoken publicly for the first time about his clash with Diego Costa.

The Belgium midfielder was handed a six-match Premier League ban after declining to appeal a charge relating to an attempted eye-gouging, during Tottenham’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Chelsea.

“It was just a very emotional game,” Dembélé told Sky Sports.

“Things happen and my intention was not to do something bad to him.”

The midfielder sat out Spurs’ defeats against Southampton and Newcastle as they let slip their grasp on second place, while he will also miss the opening four games of the 2016/17 campaign.

However Dembélé’s ban will not impact on his international career, where he is part of a Belgian squad that goes into Euro 2016 as fifth-favourites.