If Satan played soccer, he would look and behave exactly like Diego Costa.

He would cheat. He would taunt. He would be sneaky evil. He would be a player with some skills who still chose the dark side.

He would scratch and push and kick when God wasn’t looking. He would subvert the rules of a great game and turn it into a sham. And he would wear his evil on his twisted, snarling face. Just like Diego Costa.

I am not sure I can name a player — in any sport — as repulsive on the field of play as is Diego Costa.

Against Arsenal in the Premier League today, as the video shows, Costa …

–Flung his arms backwards, where he knew Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny to be, and hit him in the face with both hands. Then turned and threw back his left hand, poking Koscielny in the eye. “Oh. An accident. I often flail in the direction of opponents’ faces.”

–Chest-bumped Koscielny to the ground.

–When a young Arsenal defender, Gabriel Paulista, came over to intervene, Costa threw his left arm behind Gabriel’s neck and raked it — with his fingernails — leaving a couple of furrows in the young man’s skin. Caught on camera. (Hope Gabriel got a rabies shot.) He then attempted to slap Gabriel.

–As Costa and Gabriel walked to midfield, Costa taunted him all the way, whispering vile nothings at the young man (Satan : Garden of Eden). Gabriel was suckered into playing Costa’s twisted game, and aimed a child-like back-heel kick at him. Costa reacted as if he had been shot, as he inevitably does when someone makes contact with him and called for the referee to intervene.

The referee saw exactly none of this.

One of his assistants did see the Gabriel baby-kick, and told the ref about it, who showed Gabriel his second caution, which meant expulsion.

Chelsea eventually won 2-0, with Arsenal down to nine men, and all anyone wanted to talk about was Diego Costa.

(Check the 31-second mark of this cartoon video to see one artist’s rendering of Costa).

And have a look at this comic strip that appeared in The Guardian. Sums it up pretty well.

Here and there one could hear defenses of Costa’s “gamesmanship”, but mostly it was the ethically challenged Jose Mourinho, Costa’s coach, who defended his every move. even as he blasted Arsenal’s coach Arsene Wenger for noticing Costa’s crimes.

Said Mourinho: “Tough game … played with aggression … Costa was man of the match.”

Man of the match why? Not because he scored, because he did not. Not because he did anything important with the ball, because he didn’t.

Because he pulled off his typical “dive when I am touched, look astonished when I am accused of anything” act and got away with it. As usual. And this time he got someone sent off.

It’s a travesty, and it is a mystery why the English Premier League allows this stuff, because the notion of “fair play” is not completely dead, in England.

(Also amazing, and a sign of Costa’s mastery of the dark arts? Despite being known for what he is, he has never been shown a red card.)

Costa could be a good player. Once in a while, he is. But what catches the eye, and poisons his team (and Mourinho’s) is his contempt for fair play.

He is the opposite of tough. He is a cynical cheat who fakes injuries and then actually inflicts them on others.

As one of my English associates said: “I’d just like to see him sent off after about 10 minutes, for Chelsea to lose the game and for it to be his fault.”

Costa deserves worse, but that would be a start.