Jose Mourinho Addresses Diego Costa Argument After Chelsea Beat Maccabi Tel Aviv

Instead of revelling in a 4-0 away victory in the UEFA Champions League, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has had to play down an ugly incident with striker Diego Costa.         

Manager and player engaged in a heated exchange of words at half-time during the Blues' win on Tuesday over Maccabi Tel Aviv in Group G. But Mourinho insists the incident didn't amount to much and that it was soon a case of forgive and forget in the dressing room, according to the Guardian's Dominic Fifield:

Tensions had mounted over Costa's inability to latch on to scoring chances when they came his way, something that irked Mourinho, per Fifield:

Chelsea's official Twitter account offered a little more detail:

Given Costa's notoriously fiery temperament along with Mourinho's own love of an argument, it's no surprise things rapidly descended into a shouting match.

Yet, as comical as the scene may appear to outsiders, it does speak to Costa's general lukewarm form for the Blues this season. His movement isn't as incisive as it was for long periods during the last campaign.

Costa's ability to create space in and around the box made him one of Europe's deadliest finishers. But this was yet another game where he was a virtual spectator.

BT Sport pundits Glenn Hoddle and Steve McManaman took the former Atletico Madrid marksman to task for his static display in Israel:

Based on this analysis, Mourinho was right to lament Costa's display. He may have settled the argument during the interval, but Chelsea's manager seemingly couldn't resist another jab at his striker's lack of movement.

Speaking after the game, Mourinho reserved special praise for Oscar's goal, Chelsea's fourth. The reason for his admiration sent a clear message to Costa:

That's something Costa has done precious little of this season.

But while Mourinho has reason to be unhappy with his striker, he reserved most of his ire for the state of the pitch in Israel. Mourinho blamed the surface for an injury to Ramires before the match and one suffered by captain John Terry during the game, per Fifield:  

Those are costly injuries ahead of this weekend's Premier League meeting with London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Nov. 29. Chelsea were blasted 5-3 at White Hart Lane last season. Currently 15th in the table, the last thing Mourinho needs is to be taking a patchwork team to face an in-form Spurs side.

But his bigger concern will be getting his talisman up front motivated and firing. A prolific Costa could still turn this trying season into a successful one for the Blues.