• Football

Costa relief after pain of barren run

After finally scoring his first goal for Spain in Sunday's 4-0 Euro 2016 qualifier win in Luxembourg, Diego Costa admitted his barren international run had become an annoying weight on his shoulders.

Costa has nine goals in his first seven Premier League games for Chelsea, but had not hit the net in his first six caps for adopted country Spain, or during two earlier appearances for his country of birth Brazil.

Costa's first international goal eventually arrived after 512 minutes and 25 shots for Spain, when he spun sharply in the box to shoot past a wrong-footed Luxembourg keeper and put his side 3-0 ahead. After the game he told TV Espana that his lack of goals had concerned him.

"The truth is it was bothering me quite a lot," Costa said. "I could not score. It was annoying me. I did not score, and the team lost the games I played. I did not know how I was going to score. But thankfully the ball dropped for me, and I just had to put it in."

Costa said he now hoped things would go better for him at international level: "I have to thank the boss for all he has given me. Every game was another chance for me to show who I am, what I can do. I hope that from now things will go well for me."

Coach Vicente Del Bosque said everyone in the Spain squad was delighted that Costa had finally gotten off the mark.

"We are all happy for him, we all wanted him to score," he said. "He has always moved well, worked well. He wanted to give back with goals all we have given him.

"He will be very important for us in the future. We had all seen him a little nervous, he could not find a solution. But when you try so hard, and want something so much, you end up achieving it."

Spain's other goals on the night came from Manchester City's David Silva, Valencia's Paco Alcacer [the third goal in his fourth cap] and Bayern Munich's Juan Bernat on his senior debut.

With other youngsters including Dani Carvajal, Marc Bartra, David De Gea and Koke having played all 90 minutes, the veteran coach said the renovation of the side was going well.

"The new players are getting used to playing with the national team," Del Bosque said. "We have a group of over 30 players who can come with us, depending on the form they are in. That is positive for the future."

Del Bosque suggested that long-serving captain Iker Casillas and Manchester United's De Gea would share the goalkeeping duties through the current qualifying campaign.

"We want to make a comfortable transition, with both David and Iker getting used to the situation," he said. "We have time in front of us for both to play games. That is of course if both are playing with their clubs."

De Gea himself said he had not had much contact with Casillas prior to the match.

"I felt very good, I liked it with the team, enjoyed the game," he said. "It was an important result. Bit by bit I have to get confidence, to do well, the group helps me with that.

"The boss makes the decisions, I am really happy to be here and want to keep doing well. Iker did not talk much to me, just wished me luck."

This article originally appeared on ESPN FC

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