Jose Mourinho has denied any knowledge of a tunnel altercation between Chelsea striker Diego Costa and Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson after their 1-1 draw at Anfield on Tuesday.
The pair almost came to blows after the Capital One Cup semi-final clash, with reports suggesting Henderson had to be pulled away from Costa by a member of Liverpool’s backroom staff.
The furious altercation followed on from heated on-field exchange between the pair after Raheem Sterling had cancelled out Eden Hazard’s penalty.
Mourinho was quizzed on the incident at his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup tie with Bradford, and he said: “I have no idea about what happened.
“I think I was the first one to leave (the touchline). It was too cold to stay outside.”
It is not the first time Costa has riled opposition players since his summer arrival at Chelsea from Atletico Madrid, and the pair are likely to come up against each other again in next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.
In the meantime, Chelsea will try to continue their quadruple charge by beating League One Bradford, and Mourinho says it would be a “disgrace” for the Blues to sacrifice the cup competitions to focus on the Premier League.
“To help the title race, the best thing is to lose against Bradford and to lose against Liverpool and to lose against Paris St Germain and to play only Premier League until the end of the season.
“But not with us. Not with our mentality, not with our way of thinking about our job, not with Chelsea DNA.
“The other day, a coach of a big team was knocked out of the cup and he was saying ‘good, very good, this is perfect for us, now we can focus on the other competitions’.
“If I lose against Bradford I don’t say that. I say it’s a disgrace.”
Source: London24
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