Diego Costa Banned 3 Games After Stamp In Capital One Semi-Final Match [VIDEOS] Will Miss Chelsea EPL Game Against Manchester City & More

If you happened to catch the exciting second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final draw between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC, you may have noticed that the Blues' star goal-scorer, Diego Costa, was stepping on a bunch of his opponents. Whether or not they were truly accidental, the Football Association has officially punished the star player after watching video evidence of the stamp(s) in question. The 26-year-old footballer is banned from 3 matches, meaning he'll miss this weekend's Barclays Premier League game against arguably Chelsea's greatest opponent in 2015, Manchester City, and future games against Aston Villa and Everton.

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"Diego Costa will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after a charge of violent conduct against him was found proven by an Independent Regulatory Commission on Friday 30 January 2015," A statement on the official FA website read, according to ESPN FC. "The Chelsea forward had denied the charge in relation to an on-field incident involving Liverpool's Emre Can which occurred in the 12th minute of the League Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday 27 January 2015. The incident was not seen by the match officials but caught on video."

There are arguments in either direction of the stamp in question, with Costa's coach, Jose Mourinho, not surprisingly claiming it was an accident and not intentional. Watch a video clip of the manager making this statement:

Perhaps the most interesting statement about Costa's ban comes from legendary Manchester United star Paul Scholes in his Independent column this week.

"I see it differently to the rest," he wrote. "I thought his actions were at the lower end of the scale of dangerous and that he was under extreme provocation from Martin Skrtel, who has wound him up before this season. My view of it was that Costa gets kicked a lot and actually his patience is to be admired in many, if not all, situations."

If you saw the match, you'd have noticed the intense battle between Costa and Skrtel, so Scholes is making sense here!

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