Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa knows that this weekend’s La Liga showdown with city rivals Real will go a long way to deciding the destination of this season’s main domestic silverware and insists that his side are ready for battle.
Costa has tried to play down Atletico’s chances and suggested that they were never even thought of as challengers in the first place: “If we lose against Real Madrid it will be very difficult to win,” he told reporters, “but to be honest we were never really contenders for the title.”
“We are fighting against the odds. We are doing well and we know we would be back in it with a win.”
Costa has courted controversy in the past year after shunning the country of his birth in order to represent Spain at international level.
