Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, insists he is powerless to stop Diego Costa from joining up with Spain for their Euro 2016 qualifier with Belarus on November 15 and a friendly against Germany three days later.

Costa, only just returning to fitness following a hamstring injury, has missed matches with Crystal Palace, Maribor, Manchester United and Shrewsbury after playing for Spain against Slovakia and Luxembourg in the October internationals.

Mourinho said: "I cannot stop him from going. He needs to be under special care and we are going to do that. It's the only thing we can do."