Jose Mourinho fumes over Diego Costa injury

Jose Mourinho believes Diego Costas hamstring injury has been further aggravated while on international duty. Picture: AP

Costa is out of tonight’s Champions League Group G clash with Maribor with a hamstring problem which has plagued him  persistently this season.

Instead of resting, the  £32 million signing from Atletico Madrid played almost every minute of the Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Slovakia and Luxembourg this month and Mourinho does not know if his top scorer will be fit for Sunday’s match at Manchester United.

“It’s the same problem that he’s having, but now an injury, not an ‘almost injury’,” Mourinho said. “Let’s see what happens for next weekend [at Old Trafford], but next weekend is not important. Important is tomorrow [Tuesday] and tomorrow he cannot play.”

Costa, scorer of nine goals in seven Premier League games, missed Saturday’s win at Crystal Palace and Chelsea have an  unchanged squad for their first fixture with a Slovenian side.

Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel (foot) is again absent, while Brazil midfielder Ramires (groin) and World Cup winning Germany forward Andre Schurrle (illness) are also out despite training yesterday.

It is the situation regarding Costa which appears to be  frustrating Mourinho most.

“It hurts,” added Mourinho, who has not spoken to Del Bosque about Costa. “You are not happy when you give players in good conditions and you receive the players in bad conditions.

“I had managers with a very open communication, some others they simply don’t care. Year after year after year, I don’t have one single SMS [text message] or one single phone call.”

The only national team boss Mourinho has spoken to this season regarding his players was England’s Roy Hodgson.

The Portuguese added: “In this moment, since the beginning of the season, I think from all the national teams, I think [I have received] one phone call from Roy [Hodgson, the England boss].

“It was the only one from all the national teams that had personal, direct contact with me.”

In a thinly-veiled attack on Del Bosque, Mourinho added: “I don’t say that communication is compulsory for the players to be back in good conditions. I’m not saying that. For example, I didn’t speak with [Brazil boss] Dunga and Oscar, Filipe [Luis] and Willian came back in perfect conditions.” He added that he would not try to exert pressure on his players to pull out of internationals.

Mourinho said: “I’m not the kind of guy to tell the players not to go. I don’t tell the players to pretend they have problems.

“The players should be proud to play for the national teams and Chelsea Football Club is proud that our players are selected for their national teams.

“[But] if one day I become national coach I will do it my way.”

Despite his growing absentee list, Mourinho has no intention of making wholesale changes for a match Chelsea need to win if they are to secure early qualification for the knockout stages.

Mourinho added: “I don’t have Man United in mind. I have Maribor in mind. I don’t rest players. We must play with what we have, with the best we have.”

Maribor have drawn with Sporting Lisbon and Schalke in their opening two matches – Chelsea won in Portugal last time out, having opened with a home draw against the Germans – and Mourinho is not underestimating a team which reached the group stages at Celtic’s expense. He said: “We worked today studying them and I’m happy because my players now have the feeling that they are a difficult opponent.”

The major selection question now for Mourinho is whether Didier Drogba or Loic Remy will start up front.