It is not often that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho declares: “I am nobody”, but he did on Friday when he said he was powerless to stop Spain calling up Diego Costa for international duty despite the striker’s injury problems.

Asked if he would rather Costa, who has been struggling with a hamstring injury, did not play for Spain in the upcoming internationals, Mourinho told reporters: “Everyone knows Diego has been in trouble for quite a long time, but I’m nobody to make that decision. Everybody knows what is going on with Diego but I am nobody. The moment a national team wants to select a Chelsea player, I am nobody. It is their decision – they can do what they want.

They can call up the player, it is completely out of my control, and what I think and feel doesn’t play a part. “We can send reports, but at the end of the day it is their call. It is their decision, so when they make the pre-selection everything is in their hands. I can do nothing.”

Mourinho has said for weeks that Costa, who injured the hamstring playing for Spain against France in a friendly on September 4, is struggling to play more than one match a week.