In an interview ahead of Spain’s meeting with England on Friday in Alicante Del Bosque tells The Independent that the approach to Messi was made when he first came to prominence as a young player at Barcelona – and suggested players switching worldwide teams was a phenomenon no leading football nation could now ignore.
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Costa has made nine appearances for La Roja since choosing them over his native Brazil but has only managed one goal, the third in a 4-0 victory over Luxembourg.
“We all know his character and we don’t feel we pick him because we owe him anything”, Del Bosque said. “It happens too often for that, it’s too significant”.
Del Bosque, however, has hit out at suggestions that Costa is harming the Spain team and insists he remains an important striker for the future, along with Juventus’ Alvaro Morata and Paco Alcacer of Valencia.
“Thiago, we do not know yet, he was taken off for precaution with a knee problem”, he said.
“I actually voted for him as player of the year last season because I think he was a huge player for Chelsea”, the England captain said of Costa, who scored 20 goals in his maiden season for the Blues. Costa has been seemingly more concerned with starting a fight rather than hitting the back of the net and the Spain coach cited this as one of the reasons for his exclusion. “It does not depend too much on the system, with the players we have, we have our own style”.
“How can Costa be harmful for us?”
Del Bosque left him out of the last squad following a ban for his misdemeanours during Arsenal’s defeat at Chelsea in September.
It’s well worth the read, especially the part that talks about something I’ve always believed in: success at worldwide level, especially consistent success, depends largely on getting a core group of (quality) players together who play together at the same club. “He is a top player, one of the best defenders in La Liga”.
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Hodgson is a fan of Costa, but the England manager admits he will be looking for the officials to step in if the striker misbehaves. “They played very well, both in last game away from home, and today they did what we wanted”.
