Jose Mourinho reignites Jamie Redknapp feud with rant over Diego Costa row

The Spain striker appeared to tread down on Emre Can and Martin Skrtel in the second leg clash at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 1-0 to book a place at the Wembley final.

The west London club will be waiting anxiously to see if the Football Association choose to take retrospective action. Any suspension could rule Costa out of Chelsea's crucial top-of-the-table Premier League clash at home to second-placed Manchester City, who they lead by five points, on Saturday.

Costa has taken to English football like a duck to water, with his combative approach suiting the high-tempo physicality of England's top flight. The striker has scored 17 league goals since arriving from Atletico Madrid in the close season.

He was a handful for Liverpool's defenders all evening and was unfortunate not to win a penalty in the first half when he was felled by a clumsy tackle from Slovakia defender Skrtel.

Mourinho railed against Costa's critics, one unnamed television pundit in particular, who is understood to be former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp.

"I don't know what you understand by stamp. I think maybe you are already influenced by... I'm going to use a word which put me in trouble but I think this time I cannot be punished to say that there is a campaign on the television with a certain pundit that is saying Diego Costa 'crimes'. This guy must be nuts.

"I saw the incidents. About the penalty, I don't speak. I prefer not to speak. If I comment I will be in trouble and I don't want to be. What you call stamps and Sky calls crimes, I have to say absolutely accidental. He goes to the ball, he chases the ball, as the opponent is on the floor, they have a contact, he puts his foot there when he's looking to the ball.

"Great campaign. We know how much that pundit loves Chelsea and particularly loves me. When you are there and you are paid and you are very well paid - much more than some managers that have to put their ass, every 90 minutes, every weekend on the bench.

"These guys, they have a very good seat, very good money, no pressure. They are always right. They never lose, they always win, but they have to be fair and they have to be honest. I don't know his name, because when I see him I switch off the television."

"It's a blatant red card. He's bang out of order. He's put his studs in and it's a certain red card. The referee is trying to look around him (Henderson) and he can't quite see it."

Yes. After Chelsea defeated Liverpool 2-0 to deal a fatal blow to their title hopes in April last season, Mourinho chose to say this about the former red in the Sky box: "You speak with Jamie Redknapp and he tells you everything about it. It was about winning - you have your pundits and Jamie Redknapp, who is a brilliant football brain, they can explain to you everything."

“He’s an outstanding player, an outstanding footballer. He obviously has this edge to him. We see the TV incidents, the two that he had. The one with Emre Can... that was poor I felt. He could easily hurdle over the young player. But he directs his studs right onto his ankle, which could have been nasty. And the one with Srktel, again, there’s no need to do it. That’s the sad thing. He’s a top-class player. And he’s clever enough that the officials don’t see it. But it’s poor by him because he’s an outstanding player, a top player, and he doesn’t need to do it.”

Barney Ronay (The Guardian): "Oh, Diego. Whatever are we going to do with you? This Capital One Cup semi-final second leg always seemed likely to provide an epic instalment in the season’s third-string competition – and so it did on a dirty, messy, thrilling night at Stamford Bridge. We came expecting expansive football from two teams overloaded with nimble attacking-midfielders. What we got, in the first hour at least, was a peculiar twin-track thing. On the one hand here was a match that resembled at times a drunken scuffle, not least in a poisonous first half centred on Diego Costa, a player who seems to run on pure, cold-blooded footballing rage."

For much of this season we have seen a much nicer Chelsea than we are used to, particularly under Mourinho. Gone was the talk of 'anti-football', 'parking the bus' and gamesmanship as the Blues let their free-flowing, aesthetically pleasing brand of football do the talking. And even Mourinho, aiming to paint a new, softer image of himself, no longer wanted to be seen as the enemy of football. But, when push comes to shove, Mourinho will do exactly what is needed to get the job done - proving that the older, nastier Chelsea is still there.

There was no doubt that Costa stamped on Can and Skrtel, and it was perfectly clear that the Portuguese manager knew exactly that. But, as all good managers do, he deflected in the post-match interview. Incensed that his side had been declined a clear-cut penalty, Mourinho once again took aim at the officials and Redknapp, who has criticised Costa in recent weeks for his physical approach. The Chelsea boss's attempt to take the spotlight off Costa could quite possibly see Mourinho punished by the FA once again, but the striker's actions will certainly see retrospective action taken, whether it be this time or the next time.