Diego Costa claimed referees are ‘obsessed’ with giving him yellow cards after the Atletico Madrid striker was booked in their win over Athletic Bilbao.
The former Chelsea striker was cautioned after angrily complaining over an offside decision in Atletico’s 2-0 La Liga win over Bilbao on Sunday.
Costa, who was also unimpressed that he was not awarded a penalty in the first half, claimed there was a conspiracy against him when speaking to media after the game.
He told BeIn Sports: ‘Some people are obsessed with me. That can’t be changed. I get booked for the smallest thing. Today he wanted to show me a card, and that is how it went.’
Costa was shown a yellow by referee Jose Luis Gonzalez just before half-time at the Wanda Metropolitano, with the game still 0-0.
He was penalised after making a gesture at the linesman implying he was crazy to have flagged the hotheaded forward offside.
Costa returned to Atletico in January after falling out with Antonio Conte at Chelsea, and in typical style has been involved in a number of controversial incidents.
He was sent off on his home debut against Getafe, after picking up a second yellow by jumping into the crowd to celebrate after scoring.
Despite Costa’s displeasure at the refereeing, he scored the second goal as Atletico won to move seven points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona.
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