He April 6, 2019 he Athletic I was visiting the Camp Nou still with options to fight the League against Barcelona. With eight days to go, the rojiblanco team stood at eight points from first place, but a victory in the Barcelona coliseum placed Simeone's men five points behind the leader with 35 still at stake.
Atlético jumped green with character, competing from you to you and waiting for the lead formed by Griezmann and Diego Costa snag a dangerous play to score a goal. But at minute 30 everything went to waste when the '19' protested a foul in the center of the field and saw the direct red. According to collegiate Gil Manzano in the minutes, the footballer yelled at him “shit on your fucking mother”, something that contrasted with the words of Costa, who indicated that he had said “I shit on my fucking mother.” A justification that did not change the mind of the referee, who also collected in the minutes that the striker grabbed his arm to prevent him from taking more cards, so he was sanctioned with eight games (four for each action).
A completely decisive expulsion, playing an hour with one less footballer, until falling 2-0 despite Oblak's miracles they kept the scoreboard scoreless until the 84th minute. Barcelona left to eleven points and Atlético lost Diego Costa for the rest of the season and the beginning of this, without being able to count on him in the league debut against Getafe, although he agreed that he was injured.
Costa in top form
Now Atlético returns to the Camp Nou, this year without being able to fight for the League title, but aware that a victory would greatly approach the goal of finish in third place and qualify for the next Champions. And the Cholo has the best version of Diego Costa it's from the season. The striker has returned from a halt due to the coronavirus health crisis in a great shape, fine, fast and without that problem in the back of which he underwent surgery (cervical disc herniation) to return against Liverpool away from a state of optimal form.
In these five games he has beaten Morata, being part of the eleven in three of them and leaving the bench in two to get a total of two goals and two assists, whereas when he got to stop in march had only got two goals and three assists in 19 games. Costa scored the tying goal against Athletic recovering his connection with Koke and defining perfectly against Unai Simón. Would dial again last Saturday against Alavés taking advantage of a penalty caused by Marcos Llorente, his attacking partner for many minutes in this return to competition and a key joint change to change the face of Atlético.
In addition to those goals, Costa has contributed to the game working on defense, showing many unchecks again and playing well on his back. In El Sadar he gave the goal to João Félix and also combed the ball that fell to Vitolo to defeat Valladolid. His next objective is the Camp Nou, a stadium where he has pending accounts since although he touched heaven in 2014 with the league title, he had to do it from the bench after suffering a muscle injury in the 16th minute. If last season he starred in one of the worst moments of his career, now he wants to be because he is recovering sensations from the best Costa that Atlético needs so much.