Diego
Costa became the latest Chelsea player to wear a protective face mask in
their 5-1 win over Newcastle on
Saturday Night Football.
The striker, who scored Chelsea's opening goal at Stamford Bridge, broke his
nose in a collision with young defender Fikayo Tomori in training on
Thursday.
Costa joined Cesar Azpilicueta in wearing a mask against the Magpies, with
the Spanish defender still recovering from a fractured cheekbone.
"We are a team with a lot of masks," joked manager Guus Hiddink in his
pre-match press conference. "We are a Zorro team!"
Indeed, Costa and Azpilicueta are not the only Chelsea players to have worn
masks this season, with Nemanja Matic and Gary Cahill also sustaining facial
injuries earlier in the campaign.
The spate of facial injuries would be unusual by most club's standards, but
for Chelsea it has been an oddly recurrent theme over the last few years.
Cesc Fabregas had to wear a mask after a clash with Stoke's Charlie Adam at
Stamford Bridge last season, and in 2012/13 Fernando Torres wore a mask for
two months of the campaign after breaking his nose.
Petr Cech had to wear a mask beneath his usual headgear in the 2011/12
campaign, and back in 2007/08 John Terry had to wear the same kind of
protective gear.
Other former Chelsea players to have worn masks include midfielder Ramires,
defender Paulo Ferreira and striker Demba Ba.
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