Chelsea have dismissed as “utter nonsense” a complaint submitted by a steward at the Britannia Stadium that he was deliberately barged by Diego Costa towards the end of Stoke’s 1-0 victory on Saturday. It is understood that the issue was then dealt with amicably and put to bed.
Video footage shows Costa running over the touchline to retrieve the ball for a throw-in and making, at best, very slight contact with a steward standing in the mouth of the tunnel. The steward is understood to have complained post-match to the referee, despite his fellow stewards urging him not to pursue the incident, with Anthony Taylor now technically obliged to include reference in his report to be filed to the Football Association.
Taylor called Ravi Sharma, the head of health, safety and security at Stoke City, to his dressing room after the match to discuss what had happened and it remains to be seen whether any further action is taken.
Since joining Chelsea Costa has twice been banned retrospectively by the FA for incidents on the pitch – a stamp on Emre Can of Liverpool and a clash with Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny – though a club spokesman was dismissive of this latest apparent clash.
