Diego Costa was a master of the dark arts. Stamping, elbowing, pulling hair, scratching faces, winding defenders up until they snapped: he did all of it. He wanted to score goals and he wanted to make every defender's afternoon miserable, and he was very good at both.
His career ran from 2006 to 2021 with Braga, Penafiel, Celta Vigo, Rayo Vallecano, Valladolid, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea and Wolverhampton.
Which Costa incidents cost him bans?
In the 2015 League Cup semi-final he stamped on Liverpool's Emre Can. He also received a 3-match ban for violent conduct against Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny. Around the headline cases he kept up a steady supply of scratching, hair-pulling and hidden elbows off the ball, all aimed at getting defenders to lose their heads.
His Chelsea spell ended with a text message from manager Antonio Conte telling him he was not wanted, and he was sent home.
In between the trouble he scored 59 goals in 120 games for Chelsea and won two Premier League titles. Watching him was like watching the villain in a film. You knew something bad was coming, you just did not know what. He wound people up, and he had the goals to back it up.
Tomorrow: villain number 13.
