Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois Show Why Jose Mourinho Wants to Rebuild Chelsea Around Them
He may have been castigated for his tactics, but last night, in a funny way, Jose Mourinho was vindicated. The two players who decided the game, and set Mourinho's team crashing out of Europe, are both highly coveted by the Blues boss, who wants to rebuild his side around them.
One of those player, Diego Costa, is likely to move to Stamford Bridge this summer. Gallingly for Chelsea fans the other, Thibaut Courtois, is already at the club - how Chelsea must wish they'd cancelled his loan before he had the chance to inflict his brilliance upon them.
Brazilian-born striker Costa sealed Atletico's passage to the Champions League final against city rivals Real on 24 May, by scoring his eighth goal in the European competition – the same number as Leo Messi has managed this season. So far, he has scored a staggering 36 goals in all competitions and is the second-highest scorer in La Liga, just three goals behind of Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Mourinho is reportedly ready to pay around £40m to bring Costa to west London. Given this is £10m less than Fernando Torres, it looks like the bargain of the century.
At the other end last night stood Courtois, who displayed the full range of his talents to keep Chelsea at bay. The home side's folly in loaning their prized asset to Atletico was accentuated by the injury to their first-choice goalkeeper, Petr Cech. While Courtois performed heroics at one end, at the other Mark Schwarzer looked vulnerable throughout, displaying all the agility of - well, a 41 year old man.
Yet, if Chelsea fans think Courtois will now be booked on the first plane to London after the Champions League final, they'd better reconsider. Atletico reached an agreement with Chelsea to allow Courtois to play next season in Madrid. He will renew with Chelsea, but his idea and intention is to continue at Atleti – and little wonder, given he has already lifted the Europa League, UEFA Super Cup and the Copa del Rey in his three seasons on loan in Madrid.
This is the second huge humiliation that Chelsea have suffer at Atletico's hands – last season, Radamel Falcao scored a devastating hat-trick to propel his side to a 4-1 win in the European Super Cup final.
Simeone does not have Falcao at his disposal any more, but that is not a problem at all as the Colombian's replacement, Costa, is proving just at lethal.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.