Zouma apologised to Costa over ‘cheat’ remark

The Chelsea defender claimed the striker “likes to cheat a lot” in a post-match interview but reveals he has spoken with his team-mate to clear up the misunderstanding

Kurt Zouma has revealed that he personally apologised to Diego Costa after mistakenly calling him a “cheat”.

After Costa was heavily criticised for his overly physical display in Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Arsenal, Zouma told beIN Sports that his team-mate “likes to cheat a lot”.

The Chelsea defender quickly posted an apology on Twitter and has since spoken to Costa, who is serving a three-game ban for violent conduct after his clash with Laurent Koscielny.

“I spoke to him and said, ‘Sorry, mate’ because I didn’t want to say that,” Zouma told the Evening Standard.

“English is not my first language, so I did not mean it. He told me: ‘It’s OK, no problem. I know what you wanted to say’.