Straight red for Costa. You cannot raise your hands against another person. Ronaldo got a red for stroking someone's face, choking should be an instant red.

costa shouldve been sent off. anyway they are both dirty players,

lmao I hope you not serious ?

You should check again who raised hands on who and who started it first .... . Yellow for both was correct decison.

And what the hell does Ronaldo has to do with anything ? He does not even play in EPL . If you must know English FA contrary to Spanish FA has it is own set of rules and standards when it comes to punishing players for improper conduct. ..... smh ridiculous thread

Straight red for Costa would be the correct decision. He should have been penalized for the push on Dzeko in the penalty area as well. Dirty ass player.

if that had been suarez instead of costa all you chelsea fan boys would have been like "ban him for life," "hes an animal." But because its your beloved costa, you think its a yellow. let me put this into perspective for you. if you were walking down the street and you decided to try and strangle someone, do you think youd get a warning? no.

^Feels like referees favour chelsea.

uhmn red would be a bit harsh as it was due to hit moments (build up), a red would destroy the game. But a yellow and a very serious warning would do.

Costa did that shit almost every game in La Liga, most of the chelsea fans didn't believe me when I said it before the start of the season, because they haven't seen him play ever before.

@marcus agree that La Liga & BPL has different standards. But it's actually the other way round, it's a lot easier to get red card in BPL than in La Liga. You could see spitting, choking etc in La Liga, but I rarely see them getting sent off, or not even yellow card. That C.Ronaldo situation vs Atl.Bilbao is an exception though, but he has got away with kicking, elbowing etc after situations.

With BPL standards, I'd say that's red card.

It's pretty funny when Tim Howard crabbed Costa's jersey, it should've been blatant red according to Chelsea fans. But this time when Costa chokes, it somehow isn't.

Urgh the media and their tricks picking this specific second where it looked as if he is choking him -.- In reality he kissed his forehead with love..

the ref was really ridiculous for both sides. He wouldn't blow the whistle when there was a clear foul, but in the next moment he would give out a yellow card for a relatively harmless foul. as for the Costa v Zabaleta incident, giving both of them a yellow card was the right decision imo, however Costa should've gotten a yellow card earlier in the game.

I didn't watch the game,so I don't know.If Costa was agressive,then he deserve a yellow.If he was highly agressive then he deserved red.For Zabaleta yellow of course,there is nothing to talk about.

Yellow card is fair.
They all want to wind him up, but Costa is in another level of silliness, Zabaleta wanted to wind him up first.
The ref gave a second yellow to Zabaleta for a big foul, and Costa got a yellow for a soft reaction, no punch so no red.

@Marcus

If this was Suarez, your reaction would be to ban him.

Zabaleta didn't deserve that first yellow anyways.

Agree with @Dynastian. Costa may be the top class finisher but, he's that type I wouldn't want in team. Dirty player.

If Costa deserved a red for that we might as well stop watching football altogether. Anyone who has played football know these things happen. Costa did not cross the line. He got under peoples skin and tested their mental strength. It's their fault if they can't handle it. No red card necessary.

he did not bite any player so far, so there is no need to compare him with suarez who had bitten 3 players already

Difference between Suarez and Costa. Suarez was a cheating bastard who always tried to get away with terrible fouls and dives. People don't feel bad for Suarez because he's quite clearly a cheat. He'll break every rule if he believes there's a chance to get away with it.

Costa likes to get under peoples skin but he's not hiding it. You usually see him hugging the very people he's been battling all game.

He's not the type who will intentionally try and injure someone for an advantage in the game.

He's no angel but he's nothing like Suarez.

lol Costa dives, Ronaldo dives, Neymar dives..
It will never ends if we compare the level of dirty playing, i just think to stop whining each time this is getting stupid.
Great players with big mentality, their winning mentality turn to be silly at times, but dont ask a madrid fan to hate Ronaldo/Bale, dont ask Chelsea fans to hate Drogba/Costa and dont ask me to hate Suarez/Neymar.

Im tired of people in love with a dirty player, and hating another. ( Fu*k logic )
At least quickzy will say i hate them all, and he has every right to hate them all.

@Wolfie Costa was elected dirtiest player in la liga twice in a row, by la liga players. The players know things from the inside and seems that Costa isnt trying to make friends in a Football game, so what ?
I still love to watch him play, he makes me laugh each time he gets silly, and i ve watched him playing more than any Chelsea fan...

So to all those who doesnt want to see Suarez in their teams, dont worry he is with us now and we are happy to have him :). Each time he will act silly, he gonna pay financially for it.

Guys this is a quarter of a second, costa just put his hands on him, it's not choking. Not a red in a million years. You just pick the frame that serves what you're saying : "costa is a dirty player and should have been sent off". That's just wrong and it's tricking people into believing something. Show us the entire clip next time, a video not a screenshot that doesn't show anything.

Everybody loves to hate him!

I understand that Costa can be a douche sometimes (I love it) but this was pictured in a second and is extremely unfair considering the heat of the moment. Credit to the non-Chelsea fans here who knew that without letting Costa's cuntishness block a fair judgment from them.