Photo credit: www.dailymail.co.uk
According to independent news online, Diego Costa is unlikely to face disciplinary action having appeared to bite Everton midfielder Gareth Barry during Chelsea's 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat.
Television cameras focused on Costa nuzzling his mouth into Barry's neck six minutes from time, and it looked as if the Spain striker was prepared to bite him.
Costa appeared to think better of it, though he was still dismissed for a second bookable offence after grappling with the England international.
Gareth Barry quoted about the incident on Fanzai website saying:
"Seen a lot of talk about the incident between me and Diego Costa in the game last night, for the record, Diego did not bite me."
The Football Association is awaiting referee Michael Oliver's report before making a judgement on Costa's latest misdemeanour, but Barry's comments will certainly help his case that nothing untoward took place.
Costa will, however, definitely receive an automatic one-match ban for his sending-off - as will Barry, who followed him down the tunnel minutes later after collecting his own second yellow card in the game.
Barry will miss Everton's Barclays Premier League home game against Arsenal on Saturday, while Costa will sit out West Ham's visit to Stamford Bridge on the same day.
Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink, who said his player had been "chased" during the game, later joked that he and Costa should go together to watch the film "Anger Management" after a catalogue of incidents since his £32 million arrival at Stamford Bridge during the summer of 2014.
Costa is no stranger to controversy and had collected his 10th Chelsea yellow card of the season before seeing red.
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