Diego Costa ready to play through the pain barrier for Jose Mourinho against Liverpool

Diego Costa is ready to play through the pain barrier for Jose Mourinho

DIEGO COSTA is ready to defy damaged ribs to help Jose Mourinho in the most important match of his Chelsea career on Saturday.

 

The Spain striker is having round-the-clock treatment after he was injured in Tuesday night's Capital One Cup penalty shoot-out defeat by Stoke, and is hopeful of playing in the crunch lunchtime game.

Defeat against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool could bring down the curtain on Mourinho's second spell in charge after a disastrous start to the season which has seen the champions win just one of their last seven games, leaving them 15th in the Premier league.

Costa went to hospital for scans immediately and it was feared there may have been a hairline fracture, but the club are still hoping it is only bad bruising. The striker wants to play, but will have to have his ribs carefully strapped.

 

Chelsea skipper John Terry played with two cracked ribs in April 2012 in an FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham, and a Champions League last-four game against Barcelona.

The loss of his key frontman for such a crucial game would have been another massive blow for Mourinho.

Having been publicly backed by owner Roman Abramovich, who does not want to sack him, a win on Saturday will keep Mourinho in the job for a while longer, but the feeling is that the next bad defeat could spell the end.

Last night former interim manager Guus Hiddink added to the uncertainty surrounding Mourinho as he left the door open to a return in the same capacity.

 

Hiddink, who fulfilled a caretaker role in 2009 after the sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari, is a free agent after being dismissed by Holland in June and indicated he would be interested in rejoining Chelsea.

"Top-class football will always be attractive," said the 68-year-old. "Lately there have been offers coming my way, but there hasn't been anything I wanted to take up straight away. We'll see - we'll have to wait."

Hiddink also managed the Russia between 2006 and 2010, when he formed a close relationship with Abramovich.

The key factor for Abramovich will be Chelsea finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League next season. Last term, Manchester United were fourth with 70 points. Chelsea currently have 11 with 28 league matches left. That means they need 59 points from those games - an average of 2.1 points per game.

Carlo Ancelotti, sacked in 2011 and the other out-of-work candidate, would take a considerable amount of persuading plus a sizeable financial incentive within a long-term contract to return, and would probably only come next summer in any case.

 

Mourinho dejected following his side's Capital One Cup defeat to Stoke

At that point, some of the other long term targets would also be available - Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, who turned Chelsea down in 2013, and Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone.

Striker Loic Remy, Costa's likely deputy on Saturday if the Spaniard does not make it, has warned Chelsea they must not sack Mourinho.

Remy, who took the tie at the Britannia to extra-time with his last-gasp equaliser, insists the Portuguese remains the man for the job.

"It's important for Mourinho to stay. We don't want to give up. We were champions together only last season and he is a really great manager," he said.

"Of course I don't want him to leave. All the players don't want that. The spirit is good and we are not affected by the situation. We will just keep training well."