Ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, the visitors have been using social media to criticise their opposition. Most notably, the Parisians targeting Chelsea striker Diego Costa for his poor scoring record in the Champions League with the Blues, but manager Guus Hiddink leapt to his defence and holds him in high regard.

The Brazilian-born Spanish international has scored just once in 14 Champions League games from Chelsea since his 2014 move from Atletico Madrid, but had no problems hitting the back of the net in the competition for his former side. Costa bagged eight goals in nine Champions League games for Atleti, but Hiddink isn’t panicking about his meagre tally for the Londoners, and believes his aggression and selfless attitude remains integral, not just his scoring.

“I’m very proud of him the way he’s playing and, going not over the edge, but he likes to fight in the real way of the game. That’s what we like. I protect him and support him when he’s doing what he has done in my period at Chelsea. In the Premier League he frequently is scoring now, since December, January. Before he had this problem of not scoring, as did the team. Let’s see and hope he can make it to the European level as well,” said the Dutchman.

Diego Costa has found his scoring touch for Chelsea under Hiddink, with 10 goals in his 14 games under the interim manager, so he could well strike against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening. The 27-year-old was struggling with injuries earlier in the season, but he’s coming off the back of fine domestic form as well as clean bill of health so Costa will be hoping to strike to help his side to victory.

Despite Paris Saint-Germain’s Twitter account launching a less than complimentary attack on the striker, calling him a fraud while mocking his face mask to other fictional movie villains, manager Laurent Blanc has told his players of his threat and playing style in preparation for their meeting at Stamford Bridge. “There are two facets to Diego Costa: the player and the man. The player I like very much, a centre-forward who can score a lot of goals, has good movement, who works hard for the team. I’m a big fan of the player,” he said.

Blanc also added: “But we also know the man, a man who likes contact, challenges, even provocation at times. That’s part of his game. We saw that last year and he’s a player who always performs like that. He doesn’t just reserve that for matches against PSG. I’ve told my players not to respond.

“We have to keep cool in the face of provocation, even if we have Brazilian players across our back-line. But we’ll need all our strengths at our disposal in a tight game. We need to stay with 11 on the field and enjoy a good game, so we can’t respond to any provocation, be it from Diego Costa or anyone else. We were made to pay with that a bit last year and, this year, it could be even more difficult.”

It’s clear Paris Saint-Germain are wary of Diego Costa’s threat for Chelsea, and Blanc is particular worried his players might bite to his provocative style of play. With the Spanish international having scored 10 goals in his last 14 games under interim boss Guus Hiddink, can Costa finally shine in Europe?