Madrid: Diego Costa, who officially re-joined Atletico Madrid from Chelsea in January after an acrimonious fallout with manager Antonio Conte, did not play for the first half of the season.

His performances since coming back to the side, scoring six times in 14 appearances in all competitions, have earned him a recall to the Spain squad for the first time since June last year for the upcoming friendlies against Germany and Argentina.

The 29-year-old said that he was in a good space now following a difficult period. "I'm happy off the pitch. Before, things didn't go well, but my teammates believed in me," he said.

"Everyone's always treated me really well. I'm happy and with things like this I always will be. I'm in a good space."

The man who replaced Costa at Chelsea, Alvaro Morata, has come in for criticism of late after going 13 games without scoring and was omitted from Julen Lopetegui's latest Spain squad. He found an unlikely ally in Costa, though.

"I miss him because we get on well. My life's never been easy and I improve with competition. Hopefully, he's in the next squad.

"He's having a bad time at the moment, but I hope things change for him," the former Chelsea striker said.

Costa, meanwhile, said he would want teammate Antoine Griezmann to stay at the La Liga club beyond the next transfer window.