London : Chelsea Football Club manager Jose Mourinho said “the team is hurt” by the three-match ban given to striker Diego Costa.
Costa was retrospectively banned for violent conduct for an incident involving Laurent Koscielny in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Arsenal.
Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista was sent off after clashing with Costa but had a three-match ban overturned on Tuesday.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said that decision only repaired “5 percent of the damage done to us”, BBC reported.
Mourinho explained that he had not previously spoken about Costa’s ban for fear of incurring his own suspension.
“If I bring feelings into the discussion a big suspension will be waiting for me and I don’t want that. The team doesn’t need that, the team lost an important player for three matches and I don’t think they need to lose their manager,” Mourinho said.
“It’s easier to accept an injury but this kind of situation goes much more deeper in feelings and the team is hurt,” he said.
The Chelsea boss also argued that the decision to rescind Gabriel’s red card set a dangerous precedent. “Now we know something, that retaliation is allowed now. No problem, you can do it,” he said.
The ruling also failed to satisfy Wenger, who said: “It just shows that they decided after the game what should have happened during the game.
“They repair 5 percent of the damage which has been done to us. Instead of us playing 11 against 10, we played 10 against 11,” Wenger said.
