Conte: I got Costa decisions right

Michael Graham

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte says that Diego Costa’s performance in the win against Hull has vindicated his handling of the situation.

Contecause a stir earlier this month when he dropped Costa from the Chelsea squad following an alleged training ground argument with the Spaniard amid reports of a huge-money offer from China.

However, Costa returned to the Chelsea line-up to star, and score, in the 2-0 win over the Tigers that extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points.

“His performance was good and I am pleased for this,” Conte told Sky Sports.

“In the press conference before the game a lot of people asked me about his form, his attitude, and I said took the best decision for the team and I think I made the best decision after this performance.

“It is normal to receive a lot of questions [about Costa]. The most important thing for us is the answer on the pitch, for the player, for me, for club, for fans and for the league table.

“Honestly I was very happy to see his celebration because I was celebrating the goal on the bench. The most important thing was he scored.

“In this situation I told always the truth. I am happy for him and to finish this speculation. He played and played very well.

“I am pleased for him and for fans and club. Today finished all types of speculation.”

On his side’s performance, Conte added: “This game was very difficult for us. It is not easy to play this type of game. I think our opponent played very good, good organisation and made it difficult for us.

“We are in the second part of the season and every game is now very tough for us and also for the other teams. You can see today the difficulty all of the teams have.”