Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has launched powerful defence of his under fire striker Diego Costa.
Costa came on as a half time replacement for Thomas Lemar in the weekend La Liga 1-1 draw at Sevilla, however the Spanish international saw his bad luck so far this season continue, as he had a goal disallowed and missed a penalty.
The former Chelsea forward has scored just twice in 13 appearances in all competition in 2019-20, and his confidence looks to be dropping by the game.
However, his manager stated in his post-match interview that he remains right behind Costa, and will not hesitate to keep playing him in the coming weeks.
"When a player works as hard as Costa does, I will always trust them.
"He is physically in great shape and training well.
"At the moment he just cannot find that goal.
"If you are not with Costa, thane you are against him.
"And I would give my life for him."
Costa is expected to come in to the starting line up for the trip to face Bayer Leverkusen in midweek, with French international Lemar struggling with an injury.
However, Simeone will be hoping that Costa can rediscover his goal scoring touch quickly, with a testing set of fixtures in the coming weeks for Los Rojiblancos.
Following the trip to Germany, Simeone's side face Espanyol, Granada, Juventus – in Champions League action – and rivals Barcelona.
