Diego Costa might have been sent off after stamping on two Liverpool players…
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has criticised Chelsea striker Diego Costa for his Stamford Bridge horror show, which seemingly saw him stamp on both Emre Can and Martin Skrtel.
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Tempers flared on a number of occasions during a heated second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final, with the Spanish forward usually involved at the heart of every problem.
Both Can and Skrtel reacted angrily to the actions of Costa, who was lucky to escape further punishment after referee Michael Oliver appeared to miss both incidents.
Costa was eventually yellow carded after squaring up to Steven Gerrard mid-way through extra-time, but Rodgers will feel justified in saying that the player should not even have been on the pitch at the time.
Rodgers, who was quoted by the Guardian, said: “He [Costa] is an outstanding player – he obviously has this edge to him. We see the TV incidents, the two that he had.
“The one with Emre Can, that was poor, I felt. He could easily hurdle over the young player but he directs his studs right on to his ankle, which could have been nasty. And the one with Martin Skrtel – again, there’s no need to do it.
“That’s the sad thing. He’s a top-class player and he’s clever enough that the officials don’t see it. But it’s poor by him because he’s an outstanding player and he doesn’t need to do it.”
Speaking about the match officials, Rodgers added: “They clearly didn’t [see], should he have had a red card? That’s up to the officials. It certainly would have been.
“It wasn’t good for the game. The referee didn’t see it. It’s not my job to tell him. It’s disappointing when you see such a good player behave like that.”