• La Liga

Costa up for Spanish award

ESPN staff
October 22, 2014
Diego Costa has been nominated for La Liga award after his efforts Atletico Madrid last season © Getty Images
Enlarge

Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been shortlisted for a Spanish Football League award following his title-winning efforts at former club Atletico Madrid last season.

Atletico manager Diego Simeone is also up for an award and will compete with Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde and Rayo Vallecano's Paco Jemez for the coach of the year honour.

Costa - who left Atletico to join Chelsea this summer - will battle it out with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Vela of Real Sociedad for the best striker award after scoring 27 Liga goals last term.

Ronaldo won the Pichichi title for the top scorer in La Liga with 31 goals, four more than Costa.

Mexican striker Vela made a huge impact for Real Sociedad, scoring 16 times and setting up another 12 as the Basque outfit finished seventh.

Simone guided Atletico to their first league title since 1996, a championship that was secured when they drew 1-1 at Barcelona in May on the final day of the campaign.

Simone, who was named coach of the year after the 2012-13 campaign, also led Atletico to this year's Champions League final, which they lost 4-1 to city rivals Real.

Valverde's Athletic finished fourth in La Liga and went on to qualify for Europe's elite club competition for the first time in 16 years.

Jemez, meanwhile, engineered a major recovery for Rayo, taking them from bottom of the standings during the campaign to a 12th-place finish.

Champions League-winning coach Carlo Ancelotti and Unai Emery, who steered Sevilla to Europa League glory, have not been included on the list.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
ESPN staff Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices