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Diego Costa is not what you call ‘an ideal role model.’ His goalscoring exploits have often been overshadowed by his trysts with fellow players on the field. Much like Chelsea, he is not ‘beauty to the eye’ stuff, but if there’s one thing about the pair, its that they know how to get the work done.He’s been hitting the headlines off the field as well. Costa decided to switch his nationality from Brazil, where he was born, and opted to play instead for Spain which didn’t go down well with the Selecao supporters. He hasn’t fared much better with the Spanish fans either having more than once pulled out of the national squad in spite of playing through the pain for his club side.He is known for his aggressive style of play, often drawing reactions from the opposition players. But he has vowed to stick to his style of play and enjoy his little battles. So what better title for his biography than ‘The Art of War.’As the poster boy of Adidas’ If it’s not blue, it will be blue’ ad campaign, we have been able to witness the funny side of Diego ‘half warrior, half prankster’ Costa. The 25-year-old is hoping to build on that with the publication of his book, which opens up on the player’s less talked about incidents in his life so far.Here is a compilation of the best stories from the book.
#1 He accidentally killed his pet dog
A grim story to start off first. Costa looking back on his early days playing on the street once said, “I insulted everyone, I had no respect for the opposition, I thought I had to kill them.”
He didn’t do that thankfully but he unintentionally killed a dog, that too his own pet.
Costa was playing for Atletico Madrid at the time and he accidentally ran over his Yorkshire Terrier while parking his car. His teammate at the time Paulo Assuncao described the incident.
“Diego brought his Yorkshire Terrier to Madrid but one day when he was parking and didn’t realise the dog was behind the car, he reversed over it. He was devastated, totally depressed for a month.”
Assuncao revealed that Costa broke down when he enquired on the matter. He said: “I can’t believe it. I killed my dog. He came out of the house to greet me and I didn’t see him and I ran over him.”
So now you know – even the toughest of boys do cry.
To those who want to know how Costa’s pet was like, here’s Marco Navas explaining about his mate’s pet. He used to hang out with Costa often during their time in Madrid as he too had a dog.
“Although mine was bigger, he was really scared of Diego's dog. That thing might have been small, but my god, it was fierce – not unlike its owner.”
#2 A prankster like no other
He might not have made too many friends among the opposition players but to his teammates, he’s one deadly prankster.
Paulo Assuncao reveals a particularly funny gag by the Spaniard.
“Diego got a big bottle of water and put it on top of a newspaper showing a picture of a topless model. He called Maniche over and said, ‘If you look through the bottle you’ll see a naked woman’. Just as Maniche was bending over to take a look Diego squeezed the bottle and soaked him, saying, ‘How on earth do you expect the poor girl to take her clothes off if you’re watching?’”
There have been other instances as well where he has taken the pranks to the team staff as well.
“During stays in hotels for away matches, Costa would place a pillow over his head and kidnap the unsuspecting club doctor,” said a teammate. “He would lock the coaching staff in the sauna and fill up the jacuzzi with shaving foam.”
He also went missing from a training session and the long search for him ended only when he decided to show up himself emerging from his position, after hiding in a pile of cut grass, behind a lawnmower.
#3 Costa\'s first words to Terry
Coming to England for the first time, you can forgive Costa for not knowing much English. The South American players especially always tendto take longer to acclimatise to everything English.
However with Chelsea having quite a Brazilian representation in the form of Ramires, Willian and Oscar, Costa has adjusted to life in England quite well.
It was Oscar who helped Costa become aninstant favourite among the squad and who better to win Chelsea hearts through than the skipper John Terry.
Oscar taught the Spaniard a short & simple sentence that was sure to win them over. After Oscar introduces him to Terry along with Ivanovic, Cahill and Matic on his first day at Chelsea, Costa blurted out the magic words to Terry, I go to war. You come with me.
#4 Costa arrived overweight for pre-season
Atletico Madrid’s fortunes might have gone up and down over the years, but they have never been short of prolific goalscorers. Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan are only some of the names who have lit up the Vicente Calderon.
The 2013/14 Spanish La Liga champions signed Costa from Braga in the summer of 2007 before sending him on loan for three successive seasons. They sold him to Real Valladolid ahead of the 2009/10 season only to bring him back the next season by activating the buy-back clause in his contract.
As a player looking to impress after being given a second chance, Costa made a meal of things by reporting for pre-season overweight and four days late. And Costa’s excuse?
“Blame my mum, she’s far too good a cook,” he said.
“He tried to avoid the cameras us much as possible and insisted that we didn’t film his whole body,”journalist Jose David Palacio says.
Jesus Garcia Pitarch, the director of football at Atletico in 2010, was willing to let go of the striker for as low as £8 million, only for the move to be vetoed by Quique Flores, the manager at the time.
And how thankful Chelsea fans would be to him for that.
#5 Calling Welington a \"big girl\"
Costa once famously said, “I’ve never caused a bad injury to any player.” He might be technically correct, you know, as most of his actions are intended at provoking reactions from his opponents and to wind them up into making silly mistakes.
But Brazilian Welington Oliveira might have something to say about that.
In a match between Malaga and Atletico Madrid, Costa kneed Welington in the head, causing an injury which required six stitches. Costa though was in no mood to apologise and had this to say about the incident.
“I don’t need to hit people in order to play good football. I’m not a boxer after all. But Welington is happy to throw a few punches himself. It’s just that he’s dishonest about it. I don’t know what he’s snivelling about anyway. He’s such a big girl. Maybe he should take up volleyball instead.”
#6 Learning to play on the streets
Costa has often said, “the street is my school.” Born in Lagarto, a remote location in Brazil, Costa didn’t have any formal football training and played on the streets till the age of 16.
His uncle took him to Sao Paulo where he managed to get into a local club called Barcelona Esportiva Capela, where he turned professional. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Looking back at those early days, Costa said: “I grew up thinking a bit of pushing and shoving was completely normal. Then I suddenly learned that if you kick another player, you get in trouble. Nobody had ever reprimanded me for that before.”
The rival fans will be saying that he still does the same.
#7 Mourinho blocked Costa\'s move to Liverpool
Diego Costa and Mario Balotelli playing in the same team. Unimaginable now, but it was very much a possibility, if not for a certain Special One.
Jose Mourinho has been a thorn in Liverpool’s flesh for a long time, but he has been affecting their fortunes off the field as well. Costa and Mourinho share the same agent in Jorge Mendes and the Portuguese was able to use this influence in preventing Costa move to Anfield.
“Turn down Liverpool now and we will sign you – for more money – in 12 months.” Mourinho’s words were heeded by Costa and Chelsea and the Spaniard have turned out to be a match made in heaven.
Not sure how Liverpool will take to Costa lightly after two high-profile incidents in the space of a week last season. In The Carling Cup semi-final 1st leg clash, he had an altercation with now Reds skipper Jordan Henderson in the tunnel post-match. He then stamped on Martin Skrtel in the second leg encounter which resulted in a three-match ban for the forward.
#8 He was sent off in the match he got noticed
Costa caught the eye of super agent Jorge Mendes while playing for Barcelona Esportiva at a youth tournament in which he was lucky to even participate.
I shouldnt even have been playing. I had already been suspended for four months for slapping an opponent, Costa recalls.
He played well enough to earn Mendes faith and also showcased his future agent what to expect of his other side, getting a red card, befitting his nature.
I gave the referee a bit of a lip and then he showed me the red card, Costa said.
#9 Playing to the extreme
Costa rarely gives up. He will fight for the ball and make life uncomfortable to the defender no matter what. This never die attitude has been present from his early days itself.
A former teammate at Celta Vigo, where Costa spent the 2007/08 season on loan, recalls their time together.
“Training wasn’t enough for him and he used to play with his mates on the university pitches at 11 pm. Diego, you can’t keep doing that. You’re going to do yourself an injury. But he couldn’t help himself,” he said.
Those words have fallen on deaf words one has to say seeing the number of injuries Costa has picked up over the years.
#10 No excuses. Just frank!
Costa has always acknowledged the physical side of his game, maybe not to the extent the rival fans would want him to, but he has always been straightforward if Celta Vigo coach Alejandro Menendez is to be believed.
“If he turned up late, he wouldn’t give you a load of bull****,” says Menendez. “None of the usual, ‘the alarm didn’t go off’ rubbish. (He’d) tell me he’d been up most of the night playing PlayStation. It made me really warm to him.”
#11 Watching a pornographic film at full volume
Even the neighbours had trouble with Costa. An Albacete club official recalled one really funny incident.
“On one occasion they had a porn movie blaring out (in Diego’s apartment) and the poor woman came down to tell them to turn the volume down.”
Costa’s reaction to that? Priceless!
‘What’s the matter? Don’t you like making love?’” Costa asked.
#12 He scared off a bunch of robbers
Costa has been terrorising defenders for a long time and with his rugged figure he was able to scare away the robbers as well on one occasion.
“We stopped at a service station at about 2am (on the way back from a game),” recalls a teammate. “When we got back to the bus we found two guys nicking our stuff. Diego just went for them. What a sight! The two guys sprinting away across a field with Diego hot on their heels, screaming and swearing at them in Portuguese and the rest of us chasing him trying to get him back. He was like a mad man.”
Most defenders in the Premier League would surely vouch for the 'mad man' tag for Costa.
