Chelsea striker Diego Costa faces a three-game suspension after being charged with violent conduct for appearing to stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can, the Football Association announced on Wednesday.
Costa seemed to deliberately stand on Can’s ankle in the 12th minute of Tuesday’s League Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 1-0 to complete a 2-1 aggregate victory.
The incident was missed by the match officials and reviewed by a video panel on Wednesday.
Costa will not face a charge over a similar incident involving Martin Skrtel that occurred later in the game.
“Diego Costa has been charged by the FA for violent conduct following an on-field incident which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video,” the FA said in a statement on its website.
“The charge is in relation to an incident involving the Chelsea forward and Liverpool’s Emre Can which occurred in the 12th minute of the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge last night (Tuesday, January 27 2015).
“Following a review of an incident during the game involving Costa and Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel, the FA will not be taking any further action.”
Costa has until 1800 GMT on Thursday to respond to the charge.
If found guilty, he will miss Chelsea’s home game with Premier League title rivals Manchester City on Saturday and subsequent fixtures with Aston Villa and Everton.
Reaction to the incidents involving Costa and Can and Skrtel dominated the aftermath of Tuesday’s game, which saw Branislav Ivanovic score an extra-time winner.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said the Brazil-born Spain international’s challenge on Can was “poor” and could have caused a “nasty” injury.
But Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said the two incidents had been “absolutely accidental” and blamed television pundits for whipping up controversy over what had happened.
Mourinho was earlier fined £25,000 ($38,000, 34,500 euros) by the FA after he claimed Chelsea were the victims of a media-led “campaign” over diving allegations that was putting referees under pressure.