Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 8y

Tottenham's Mousa Dembele 'not proud' of clash with Diego Costa

Tottenham Hotspur's Mousa Dembele has admitted he is "not proud" of the altercation with Diego Costa which earned him a six-match ban, but says he will learn from the experience.

Dembele was hit with a retrospective ban by the Football Association [FA] for scratching the face of Chelsea's Costa in Spurs' 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on May 2, which ended their hopes of winning the Premier League title and confirmed Leicester City as champions.

Spurs did not contest the FA charge of violent conduct, but contested the governing body's assertion that the usual three-match ban was "clearly insufficient" -- a claim that was upheld by an independent board.

The midfielder, who is currently in his native Belgium preparing for the upcoming European Championships, stopped short of apologising to Costa, but said he is not an aggressive player.

"I think it was a just very emotional game -- things happened and my intention was not to do something bad for him," Dembele told Sky Sports.

"But it's an emotional game and you react to things. Now after learning from this, I'm not proud of this. It's not in my habit to be that emotional, so we learn from this.

"Of course I'm very disappointing about the six-game ban. I know my intention and I know they want to give a message as well. I'm very disappointed, but I can't keep being disappointed about that. We need to move on for next season."

Spurs squandered a two-goal half-time lead at Stamford Bridge and finished the match with nine yellow cards -- a new Premier League record.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted his team "crossed a line" and Dembele -- who missed the subsequent defeats against Southampton and Newcastle through suspension - agrees, but hopes the club's supporters saw the team's desire.

"I think they saw passion out there. Maybe sometimes it was a bit too much, but I think we really wanted to win it. Next year, hopefully we can bring this passion but do it a bit better. It's been a very good season. We're proud of ourselves and we take all the positives to next season."

Dembele's Belgium teammate Eden Hazard scored Chelsea's second goal to end Spurs' title hopes, after publicly saying he wanted Leicester to beat Spurs to the title.

The winger was on the receiving end of a number of heavy challenges in the match, but Dembele says there are no hard feelings.

"I know Eden -- we've known each other a long time -- and I know what kind of guy he is, a good guy, so we don't bring this here."

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