Chelsea 1 Schalke 1: Jose Mourinho admits Diego Costa cannot play every game after Champions League draw

Jose Mourinho has revealed that Chelsea’s top goalscorer Diego Costa cannot play three games in a week because of his hamstring problems.
Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, tried to rest Costa for the Champions League Group G opener against Schalke by handing Didier Drogba a first start since his return to the club. The move backfired, as Drogba missed two good chances and Chelsea squandered a one-goal lead to draw with their German opponents.
Costa, along with Loïc Rémy, was thrown on for the final 16 minutes, as Chelsea chased a winner but it was too late. Mourinho defended his decision by insisting that Costa, who injured his left hamstring on international duty with Spain, cannot play three games in a week. He has ruled the 25-year-old out of the Capital One Cup tie against Bolton Wan­derers next week, which follows the key Premier League match at Manchester City on Sunday.
Costa battled hamstring problems at the end of last season with Atlético Madrid and also sustained a hamstring scare ahead of Chelsea’s victory against Everton, before picking up a new injury with Spain.
“Costa has a problem and he can’t play in this moment three matches in a week,” Mourinho said. “If he has one week to let the muscle recover, he can start again like he has been since he had that problem with the national team. But three days, after Saturday, is not enough. It was not to protect him for the game for Sunday, but because today he was not in the condition after Saturday.

“He came to us and was completely fine. He had a problem again in the national team, not with us. And now we have a problem and now we have to resolve it as best we can. Today he was not in condition to play. Sunday we believe he is. Next week, against Bolton, for sure he isn’t. We have to manage the situation until the moment he’s completely fine.
“I don’t know [how long that will be]. If today he had started the game, for sure he could not play on Sunday. We have to go step by step.”
Mourinho refused to criticise the Spanish national team over their handling of Costa by saying: “He went to the national team in perfect conditions and came back injured. But what happened to Diego happens to many other players in other national teams. I have nothing to say about it. It’s just what happens. He played one match and was perfect, then went to the national team, played against France and came back injured.”
Drogba was handed his first start since returning to Chelsea in the competition in which his last touch was to win the trophy. He scored the winning penalty for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich before moving to Shanghai Shenhua.
Even with Costa’s hamstring problems, the decision to bring Drogba straight into the starting line-up was a surprise, given the 36-year-old missed the Premier League victory over Swansea City with a swollen right ankle. It was hard to judge whether it was the troublesome ankle or just age, but Drogba struggled to find the pace of the game and missed two good chances.
Chelsea were a goal up through Cesc Fàbregas, when Drogba first missed his kick in front of goal after being teed up by Willian and then shot wide with just Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann to beat.
Scoring either of those chances would have wrapped the game up for Chelsea and ensured a winning start to their Group G campaign, and Drogba’s failings were compounded further as his miss around the hour mark was followed by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s equaliser.
“Didier had a positive game,” Mourinho said. “I’m happy with what he did. If he scores that goal we’d be speaking about 2-0, not 1-1, and him scoring a goal with fantastic movement and a great shot. I’m not disappointed with a striker because, one inch, he doesn’t score or not. He had a positive performance. I’m happy with that.”
Referee Ivan Bebek played a big role in both goals, as he ignored claims for fouls in the build-ups to the 11th-minute Chelsea opener from Fàbregas and Huntelaar’s leveller.
Fàbregas produced a late challenge on Max Meyer that left the Schalke midfielder rolling in agony on the floor. But Bebek allowed play to continue, Eden Hazard picked up the loose ball and set up Fàbregas to score his first Chelsea goal.
Schalke were furious and captain Huntelaar was booked for leading their protests. It should really have been Fàbregas who was yellow carded for his challenge on Meyer.
Schalke will claim justice was done in the 62nd minute, however, as Huntelaar appeared to foul Fàbregas in the middle of the pitch, but Bebek did not stop play. One-time Arsenal target Julian Draxler picked the ball up and ran at the Chelsea defence, before feeding Huntelaar and the Dutchman produced a great finish to beat Thibaut Courtois and equalise.
Substitute Rémy saw a shot headed off the line by Roman Neustädter and Hazard went close to winning the game for Chelsea on two occasions in the final stages, shooting over the bar and forcing Fährmann into a good save.
“In the last 15 minutes, Rémy, Terry, Hazard could all score,” Mourinho said. “We had so many great situations, but that’s football. Defending like they did is also football. Good point for them.
"Not a fantastic point for us, but still a point. In a short competition of six matches, one point is one you get and two you don’t.”