Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League at the hands of a David Luiz inspired Paris St Germain.
Diego Costa is still without a European goal for Chelsea and he came up short once again when up against Luiz, a man who collected a winner’s medal with the Blues before departing for Ligue 1.
Here, we focus on the pair’s battle as a feisty affair ended with PSG advancing on away goals after extra-time.
Head to head
The duo came up against one another on regular intervals during the contest – with Costa showing his strength to hold Luiz at bay the first time they tussled.
Luiz brought down the Spain international in the second half as Costa dropped deeper to get more involved.
Flashpoint
Luiz was lucky not to follow team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic in an early bath as he caught Costa with a rogue elbow as they headed into the PSG penalty area towards the end of the first half.
Referee Bjorn Kuipers did not see the collision otherwise he would have had no choice but to reduce the visitors to nine men and bring Luiz’s Stamford Bridge return to an acrimonious end.
Costa made sure he drew Luiz’s attention to the fact he was aware of what had happened.
Goal threat
Costa was signed by Jose Mourinho as the missing piece of his jigsaw – a ruthless, goalscorer. But he has not branched out from terrorising Premier League defences, while Luiz took the tie into extra-time with a superbly-taken header. The defender also forced a smart save out of Thibaut Courtios with a long-range free-kick in extra-time.
Cautioned
Costa was booked for a naughty challenge on Thiago Silva and was involved in another spat with Luiz in the aftermath – with Kuiper also flashing his yellow card at the Paris St Germain player for reacting to the tackle.
Luiz was jeered by a small minority for his attempts to land Costa in hot water and therefore savoured his bullet header which took the game into extra-time.
Who came out on top
Costa is still waiting for his first European goal and was well marshalled by Luiz and his international colleague Thiago Silva.
Luiz started the evening as a returning fans’ favourite before becoming the pantomime villain and progressing into a saviour for the visitors.
Source: SNAPPA
