Mourinho: "I feel sorry for Diego"

[BlueLion. 21,491]

José Mourinho lambasted referee Michael Oliver for giving Diego Costa a yellow card for diving in tonight's 3-1 win over Burnley.

Costa was upended by Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton inside the penalty area in a first-half incident - but instead of Heaton being yellow-carded and the Blues awarded a penalty, it was Costa who was booked for simulation.

Replays showed that Costa was indeed caught by the former Manchester United goalkeeper as he latched onto an awful backpass from Ben Mee.

"I feel sorry for Diego", the Portuguese began, "because it is a penalty. Instead he is given a yellow card".

What will aggrieve Mourinho the most is that yellow card may come back to haunt his side further down the line should Costa - who has been known to walk the disciplinary tightrope - pick up another four bookings before the end of the Premier League season.

Mourinho also confirmed that, on a night where he placed his faith in new number one Thibaut Courtois, that the usurped Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech has received offers from other clubs.

"I hope he stays to fight for his place", Mourinho said. "He hasn't asked to leave and I hope he doesn't. He won't relax and sit in his chair, he will fight to play. He deserves every respect from us. We want him to stay".

[Saeed_BK 6]

For his first game Costa was great. I just wished he passed the keeper and scored the second goal instead of going on down. It was a clear plenty but we didn't get it. Hope we don't get another mistake from a ref this season but as usual "NO"

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Actually, he "lambasted" the linesman. He said Oliver had an excellent match though I don't agree. He seemed to have come in with prior "bias" against Diego. There were several blatant fouls that he wasn't give but he was quick to blow a foul against him at the slightest touches. I hope this is one off and the theme with refs this season.

[HarryCFC 23]

Diego showed his quality against Burnley and I strongly believe that he can only improve under Mourinho and Didier Drogba. I have written an article about Costa and why he will succeed at http://blogchelseafc.wordpress.com