Why Diego Costa Might Want Atletico Madrid Move to Kickstart Spain Career

International breaks might not find universal favour with world football fans desperate to see their clubs in action, but they do at least occasionally throw up interesting quotes for us all to sink our teeth into.

That old adage about being mistranslated and misunderstood when speaking to journalists back in a player’s homeland never truly cuts it in terms of an excuse, and we lap up anything and everything controversial that we can get our hands on in the absence of league football. 

So it was no surprise that when Diego Costa spoke up after Spain’s friendly with Belgium last week, the press were all ears, even if it was the press that he was railing against.

As reported by the Guardian, the Chelsea forward said:

They [the press] criticise me a lot and if I played for Real Madrid or Barça and was a natural Spaniard they’d say I had a good game, possibly my best for the team.

I didn’t score but I can be useful to the team. I participated a lot in the game and I leave here happy, unlike in other games. …

I haven’t done great things for Spain, I can’t lie, but when I play well they should say so. They criticise me for my character, but I also have quality.

Shots fired? Not quite, but what was clear was Costa’s determination to impress for Spain, for whom he hasn’t pulled up trees since switching his allegiance from his native Brazil shortly before the 2014 World Cup, where he dramatically flopped and the titleholders exited the tournament at the group stages.

Costa was accused of being unfit and failing to jell with his new national side’s tiki-taka style, and a cloud has hung over him ever since. After a poor season at Chelsea in 2015/16, he wasn’t selected for Euro 2016, and few were surprised.

Is hope around the corner, though?

On Monday night, the former Atletico Madrid forward responded to last week’s criticism with two goals, as Spain hammered Liechtenstein 8-0 in Leon in their opening World Cup qualifier, and although such feats and scorelines are to be expected of Spain and their centre-forward against such opposition, it has undoubtedly been a huge step in the right direction.

After the game, he was in somewhat buoyant mood, too, saying via ESPN:

Not only [have I been supported by] the coach, but my teammates have never left me and …

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