Diego Costa News

The victory took Diego Simeone`s side into fourth place in the standings on 49 points after 29 games, two ahead of fifth-placed Real Sociedad who visit Alaves on Thursday.

Costa on Thursday accepted charges of avoiding a tax payment of over a million euros, linked to his transfer to Chelsea in 2014 and also to tax related to image rights.  

 Costa defrauded the Spanish state of 1,014,416 euros by not declaring payments of 5,150,622 euros from his 2014 transfer from Atletico to Chelsea in his tax return.

Humbled Real Madrid head home with no wins from their three games in the U.S.

Having taken a huge step towards the title, Barca can now focus on their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Manchester United on Wednesday. 

Costa has struggled for form this season, his first full campaign since returning to action for Atletico last January after re-signing for the club from Chelsea.

Spain and Russia will face each other at Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday.

Spain snatched a 2-2 draw against Morocco on Monday to qualify for the World Cup last 16 and take top spot in Group B ahead of Portugal on goals scored.

Current Group B leader Spain face Morocco in their final match of the opening round.

Diego Costa notched his third goal in two games when Ramin Rezaeian's attempted clearance bounced off the Spaniard's leg and into the net in the 54th minute.

Atletico won the tie 2-1 on aggregate and will meet either Salzburg or Olympique de Marseille in the final in Lyon on May 16. Costa proved a handful for Arsenal when he played for Chelsea and the Spain striker broke the deadlock in a tight, tense game at the Wanda Metropolitano, striking in first-half stoppage-time after being played in by Antoine Griezmann.

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has announced that Diego Costa, who missed the last three games with a muscle injury, was among the 20 players called up for the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals against Arsenal.

The 2-0 win, in which France star Antoine Griezmann set up the opener for Angel Correa on 18 minutes, lifts Atletico into second, six points behind Barcelona who play Levante on Sunday.

Diego Costa scored for Atletico Madrid just five minutes into his return as the club cruised to a 4-0 win at Lleida Esportiu in the Spanish Copa Del Rey on Wednesday.

Costa, who fired Atletico to a first league title in 18 years in 2014, agreed a return to the club from Chelsea in September for 57 million pounds ($77 million), nearly double the price he left for more than three years ago.

Atletico already have four strikers. Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro, Luciano Vietto and Torres and either Vietto or Torres will have to go to allow Costa to take his place in the squad. However, Torres has no intention of leaving the club he loves.

Having just moved into a new 310 million euro ($367 million) stadium at the Wanda Metropolitano, which will host next season's Champions League final, and broken the club`s transfer record to bring Diego Costa back to the Spanish capital in January, an early Champions League exit is also an untimely financial blow.

Costa officially joined his former club on September 26, after three years at Chelsea, but he will not be able to play with La Liga side until January due to a FIFA ban.

Barcelona maintained their perfect start to La Liga with a sixth straight win as Luis Suarez and two own goals secured a 3-0 win at Girona in a match laced with political tension on Saturday.

Atletico Madrid warmed up for next week’s Champions League clash with Chelsea by brushing aside Sevilla 2-0 at home on Saturday thanks to second-half strikes from Yannick Carrasco and Antoine Griezmann.