Chelsea

Diego Costa: 'Training-ground row with Antonio Conte was nothing'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 08 March 2017

Diego Costa disputes having a big falling out with manager Antonio Conte in January and insists that scoring goals for Chelsea is all that matters.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa has insisted that his training ground bust-up with manager Antonio Conte earlier this year was blown out of proportion by the British press.

The Spain international's future at Stamford Bridge looked to be in the balance in January following a rumoured row over his fitness levels.

Costa was dropped for Chelsea's league match with Leicester City a few days later, which Conte put down to the player suffering from a bad back, but links with a move away from the club have yet to die down.

Speaking about the incident for the first time, Costa told ESPN Brasil: "It was nothing. People [in England] make up a lot of stuff. Things happen, but I'm showing now that there's nothing to it. I'm playing and scoring goals, and that's the important thing.

"Everyone knows that anything I say has bigger repercussions than what it was. The manager is someone who works us really hard in training. He's got his personality just like I've got mine and others have theirs.

"The important thing is to show your personality in a way that benefits the team. This is what's happening. Everyone is on the same page and that's the way we have to go."

Costa has scored 17 goals in 25 Premier League appearances for Chelsea this season, leaving him behind only Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku in the scoring charts.