Diego Costa began to pay back his hefty transfer fee with a debut goal for Chelsea as they recovered from the shock of going behind to seal an emphatic 3-1 win over Burnley on Monday.
Spain striker Costa, bought from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid for £32 million, cancelled out Scott Arfield’s opener for Burnley before Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic scored further goals before half-time to ease Jose Mourinho’s side to an impressive victory in their Premier League opener at Turf Moor.
Having failed to win a trophy last season for the first time in his two spells in charge, Mourinho, and possibly club owner Roman Abramovich, will not tolerate such relative failure again.
The arrival of Costa therefore came as a serious show of intent and Chelsea’s determination to dethrone reigning champions Manchester City was further underlined as they went top of the table after a dominant performance inspired by a masterful debut from Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
‘When you come to a place like this and you are a goal down against a difficult team then players can get down heartened and lose faith. Burnley are a direct and physical side but overall we had good control and we showed moments of class,’ Mourinho said.
‘I agree completely with Cesc as man of the match. He controlled the tempo of the game and was responsible for the best phase of our play. Diego was very important as he made our first goal and that was very impo rtant,’ he added.
Burnley briefly looked like upsetting the odds when they took the lead in the 13th minute. Burnley couldn’t have dreamt of a better start, but the goal served only to wake up Chelsea and after Costa’s equaliser four minutes later there was going to be only one winner.
Spain striker Costa, bought from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid for £32 million, cancelled out Scott Arfield’s opener for Burnley before Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic scored further goals before half-time to ease Jose Mourinho’s side to an impressive victory in their Premier League opener at Turf Moor.
Having failed to win a trophy last season for the first time in his two spells in charge, Mourinho, and possibly club owner Roman Abramovich, will not tolerate such relative failure again.
The arrival of Costa therefore came as a serious show of intent and Chelsea’s determination to dethrone reigning champions Manchester City was further underlined as they went top of the table after a dominant performance inspired by a masterful debut from Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
‘When you come to a place like this and you are a goal down against a difficult team then players can get down heartened and lose faith. Burnley are a direct and physical side but overall we had good control and we showed moments of class,’ Mourinho said.
‘I agree completely with Cesc as man of the match. He controlled the tempo of the game and was responsible for the best phase of our play. Diego was very important as he made our first goal and that was very impo rtant,’ he added.
Burnley briefly looked like upsetting the odds when they took the lead in the 13th minute. Burnley couldn’t have dreamt of a better start, but the goal served only to wake up Chelsea and after Costa’s equaliser four minutes later there was going to be only one winner.