It seems ex-Chelsea striker Diego Costa still has a friend in David Luiz.
And it could be the reason why he was dropped by Antonio Conte at the weekend.
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According to the Times, the defender believes his ongoing friendship with Costa is the reason the Chelsea manager dropped him from the club’s matchday squad for their win against Manchester United on Sunday.
The 30-year-old was made to train on his own in the morning before kick-off, having openly questioned Conte’s tactics in the Champions League defeat to Roma.
He was even made to be one of the ball boys in a training match ahead of the game.
How humiliating.
Conte has also had words with Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas following the club’s trip to Rome last week, while Willian also feels he’s being unfairly overlooked due to his close-ties with Costa.
But it was Luiz who reportedly acted as peacemaker between Conte and Costa numerous times last season.
The two were seemingly at loggerheads throughout most of their title-winning campaign – which ended with the manager sending Costa a text message in the summer revealing he wasn’t part of his future plans.
After going AWOL for a few months, Costa was eventually sold to his former-flame Atletico Madrid.
Ah, good old dysfunctional Chelsea.
It’s nice to see nothing really changes, eh?