The Liverpool manager did nothing to conceal his unhappiness at Costa, who could face disciplinary proceedings from the Football Association because the referee, Michael Oliver, took no action on either occasion. A ban would potentially rule the striker out of Saturday’s Premier League match at home to Manchester City.
Skrtel could also be in trouble with the FA after a photograph emerged of him making an apparently offensive gesture.
The Chelsea manager, José Mourinho, offered a passionate defence of Costa, insisting that each of the flashpoints had been entirely accidental. He warmed to a familiar theme when he accused Sky TV of waging a campaign against his club.
Mourinho was furious that the pundit Jamie Redknapp had criticised Costa for being “bang out of order” and having “put his studs in for a certain red card”, as Sky played footage of the striker’s evening with the tag line “Diego Costa crimes”.
Rodgers said: “He [Costa] is an outstanding player – he obviously has this edge to him. We see the TV incidents, the two that he had. The one with Emre Can, that was poor, I felt. He could easily hurdle over the young player but he directs his studs right on to his ankle, which could have been nasty. And the one with Martin Skrtel – again, there’s no need to do it. That’s the sad thing. He’s a top-class player and he’s clever enough that the officials don’t see it. But it’s poor by him because he’s an outstanding player and he doesn’t need to do it.”
Rodgers was asked whether he was surprised that Oliver and his assistants had missed the controversies. “They clearly didn’t [see],” Rodgers said. “Should he have had a red card? That’s up to the officials. It certainly would have been. It wasn’t good for the game. The referee didn’t see it. It’s not my job to tell him. It’s disappointing when you see such a good player behave like that.”
Mourinho was clearly irritated when Rodgers’ comments were relayed to him and it was easy to feel that the relationship he once enjoyed with him when Rodgers worked under him at Chelsea had thawed.
“We are very different persons,” Mourinho said. “I could speak about Skrtel and I don’t. He speaks about [Thibaut] Courtois [the Chelsea goalkeeper, who made vital saves] and he forgets [Simon] Mignolet [who also made saves]. To say Courtois played fantastic – I could say the same about Mignolet. He is a fantastic manager but we are different persons.”
Mourinho was furious that Oliver did not award Costa a penalty in the 23rd minute, after the striker had been clattered by Skrtel and he felt that Jordan Henderon and Lucas Leiva ought to have received second yellow cards. Mourinho was making the point so forcibly to the fourth official, Phil Dowd, that he did not see Ivanovic head home the only goal of the second leg from Willian’s free-kick.
“I don’t know what you understand by a stamp,” Mourinho said of the incidents with Costa. “Maybe you are already influenced by the campaign on the television with the certain pundit saying that Costa has crimes. They must be nuts, the guy who says that. I didn’t speak about the penalty. If I comment about that, I will be in trouble. Sky calls it a crime – I have to say that he goes to the ball, he chases it, the opponent goes to the floor and he puts his foot there, when he is looking at the ball. It is a great campaign.
“We know how much that pundit loves Chelsea, so you are sitting there, you are very well-paid, these guys have a good seat, earning a lot of money, no pressure, they are never wrong – they have to be fair and they have to be honest.”
Mourinho was asked to specify which pundit he was referring to but he refused. “I don’t know his name because when I see him, I switch off the television,” he said.
Chelsea’s passage to a Wembley final against Tottenham Hotspur or Sheffield United was hard-fought and it featured injuries to Cesc Fàbregas (hamstring), Filipe Luís (calf) and Ivanovic (foot). Mourinho said that Fàbregas had been withdrawn because he felt he was on the brink of a serious injury and that Ivanovic’s boot was covered in blood after a tackle. Ivanovic was able to last the 120 minutes.