Gareth Barry has confirmed Diego Costa did not bite him during Everton’s 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final win over Chelsea on Saturday.
Costa was dismissed for a second bookable offence six minutes from the end of his side’s 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Goodison Park after an ugly clash with Barry during which he appeared to make a motion to bite the Toffees midfielder before thinking better of it.
Chelsea issued a statement on Twitter to say Costa had “expressed regret over his reaction to the challenge from Gareth Barry” but was “very clear that he did not bite him at any point during that altercation.”
Writing on the Fanzai app, Barry confirmed Costa’s story: “Seen a lot of talk about the incident involving me and Diego Costa in the game last night.
“For the record, Diego did not bite me.”
The Football Association is awaiting referee Michael Oliver’s report before making a judgment on the Spain international’s latest misdemeanor, although Barry’s evidence could prove invaluable to him.
