Bad boy Costa is told to behave in his fight for form

DIEGO COSTA has been told to clean up his act by Spain manager Vicente del Bosque.

The Chelsea striker has been a central figure in a number of unsavoury scrapes this season, leading to serious questions over his discipline.

Last season’s 20-goal haul helped deflect attention away from some regrettable behaviour but the goals have dried up this season, putting his acts of petulance in the spotlight.

Del Bosque, who omitted Costa (below) from his previous squad due to disciplinary concerns, fired a stark warning to his striker before tonight’s match against England.

‘As far as his character is concerned he has to smooth things out regarding his behaviour,’ admitted the 2010 World Cup-winning boss. ‘But we don’t want to change Costa, for that reason we called him up in the first place.’

England manager Roy Hodgson has also told the Chelsea striker to forget about trying to wind up his team here in Alicante.

He said: ‘ All our players play on a regular basis in the Premier League and all have experience playing against Costa. He is a very combative player but we have combative centre halves.’

‘ I wouldn’t dream of suggesting he’s going to try underhand methods. If he does we’re just going to have to deal with it and hope the referee deals with it.’

Costa could do worse than seek out Wayne Rooney for a bit of advice. The England captain’s temperament has been questioned after numerous disciplinary problems throughout his career, but Rooney says Costa should not water down his controversial style.

‘He’s a fighter and I think that’s part of his game and it is going to be very difficult for anyone to ask him not to do that,’ he said.

‘I feel that’s in him — that fight. He thrives on that. I actually voted for Costa as player of the year last season because I think he was huge.

‘I think what Chelsea missed the season before was that fight up front and he gave them that and I strongly believe that’s why they became champions.’

Costa is lacking confidence at the moment, with the former Atletico Madrid star looking a shadow of the player who took English football by storm last year.

Chelsea’s awful start to their title defence, coupled with Costa scoring only three goals in 17 games for club and country this season, is testament to that.

Koke, his former team-mate, said: ‘He is feeling the pressure to produce the same performances at Chelsea as he did at Atletico.’

Del Bosque, though, claims he still has faith in Costa despite his troubled campaign, adding: ‘ We know the character of Costa. I want to say that he doesn’t come here because there is an obligation or a debt to him. ‘ He comes because we think he is useful and that’s what we believe. He can be useful and that is why he comes.

‘I wouldn’t like it if he felt that he is coming for something that happened in the past — that’s not true.

‘ He comes because we believe in him. It’s a question of confidence from the manager towards

him.’