No
action will be taken against Chelsea's Diego Costa following an alleged
gesture he made to Everton supporters during Saturday's FA Cup tie, the FA
has announced.
The Spain striker had been given until 6pm on Wednesday by the FA to explain
the gesture towards home fans at half-time of the match at Goodison Park,
which Chelsea lost 2-0.
Costa faced a one-match ban if the charge was upheld but no further action
will follow over the matter.
"Having considered the evidence and Diego Costa's observations in relation
to a gesture the Chelsea forward made towards Everton supporters at
half-time of Saturday's FA Cup sixth-round tie, the FA is satisfied no
further action is required," read an FA statement.
The 27-year-old still faces a misconduct charge for his reaction to his
84th-minute dismissal by referee Michael Oliver in the same game, a charge
for which he has until 6pm on Thursday to respond to.
Costa is already suspended automatically for his first red card as a Chelsea
player and will miss Saturday's Premier League clash with West Ham.
The former Atletico Madrid man had no case to answer over speculation he bit
Gareth Barry during the same incident packed game.
The Everton midfielder insisted Costa had not bitten him after their
altercation, during which Costa nuzzled his mouth into Barry's neck.
Costa was sent off six minutes from time, with Barry following three minutes
later for a second yellow card.
Costa has twice been handed three-match retrospective bans by the FA. The
first came after he was adjudged to have deliberately trodden on the ankle
of Liverpool's Emre Can during a Capital One Cup semi-final in January 2015.
The second suspension followed an altercation with Laurent Koscielny in a
Premier League defeat of Arsenal last September.
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