Pele has defended Chelsea striker Diego Costa following recent criticism of his playing style, insisting that his behaviour againstArsenal pales in comparison to Luis Suarez biting an opponent.
Costa made the headlines for all the wrong reasons against the Gunners as he was involved in a number of confrontations, eventually resulting in a three-game ban for violent conduct following an apparent slap on Laurent Koscielny.
Nevertheless, Brazil great Pele has downplayed the events and maintains that the Blues star is no worse than the Barcelona forward.
"Listen, this to me was so common," Pele told AFP. "I suffered all my life with good marking.
"Diego Costa is a very good player, everybody knows. This was one moment.
"The striker who bit someone, Luis Suarez, was worse than this."
Suarez has been punished for biting an opponent on three occasions.
He first received a ban for sinking his teeth into PSV midfielder Otman Bakkal when at Ajax, then bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic while under contract with Liverpool, before repeating the feat at the 2014 World Cup, with Italy's Giorgio Chiellini his victim.
Costa made the headlines for all the wrong reasons against the Gunners as he was involved in a number of confrontations, eventually resulting in a three-game ban for violent conduct following an apparent slap on Laurent Koscielny.
"Listen, this to me was so common," Pele told AFP. "I suffered all my life with good marking.
"Diego Costa is a very good player, everybody knows. This was one moment.
"The striker who bit someone, Luis Suarez, was worse than this."
Suarez has been punished for biting an opponent on three occasions.
He first received a ban for sinking his teeth into PSV midfielder Otman Bakkal when at Ajax, then bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic while under contract with Liverpool, before repeating the feat at the 2014 World Cup, with Italy's Giorgio Chiellini his victim.
0 comments:
Post a Comment