Diego Costa

Diego da Silva Costa (born 7 October 1988) is a Brazilian-Spanish footballer which he last played as a striker for Atletico Madrid and the Spanish national football team.

Diego Costa
Diego Costa playing for Atlético Madrid in September 2013
Personal information
Full name Diego da Silva Costa
Date of birth (1988-10-07) 7 October 1988
Place of birth Lagarto, Brazil
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Atletico Madrid
Number 18
Youth career
2004–2006 Barcelona EC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Penafiel
– Atletico Madrid
– Braga (loan)
– Celta Vigo
– Albacete
– Real Valladolid
– Atletico Madrid
– Chelsea
– Atletico Madrid
National team
2013 Brazil 2 (0)
2014– Spain 16 (6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was born in Brazil and played for the Brazil national football team for the first time in 2013.[1] However, he then chose to play for Spain. This made the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, very angry.[2] The Brazilian Football Confederation have even asked the country's government to remove Costa's citizenship.[3]

In March 2014, Costa changed to the Spanish national team. This was when he was granted his Spanish citizenship. He made his first appearance against Italy and represented Spain in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Youth career

Costa spent 2 years at Barcelona Esportivo Capela, from 2004 to 2006. After this, he then began his senior career in Portugal by joining Penafiel.

Senior Career

Penafiel (Loan)

In the same year as joining Braga, he was sent on a loan spell to Penafiel. He played 13 league games with 5 goals.

Atletico Madrid (2007–09)

In 2007, Costa joined Atletico Madrid for a fee of €1.5 million. Unfortunately, he didn't get a games due to loan spells.

Braga (Loan)

Diego Costa remained at Braga in 2007 but on a loan spell. This time, he made 7 league appearances, but he failed to score a goal. In the UEFA Cup, he scored his first goal in a domestic cup against Parma F.C.

Celta de Vigo (Loan)

He was then loaned to Celta for the 2007-08 Segunda Division season. In that season, he made an impressive 30 appearances and scored 5 goals.

Albacete (Loan)

Staying in the Segunda Division, he then joined on loan Albacete Balompie for the 2008-09 season. At this loan spell, he made 35 league appearances and 9 goals.

Valladoid

Costa was bought by Valladoid from Atletico Madrid in 2009 Transfer Window. In this 2009-10 season, he made 34 league appearances with 8 goals. But it wasn't enough to keep Valladolid in La Liga, the top division in Spain. Valladolid was eventually relegated to the Segunda División.

Return to Atletico Madrid

Costa returned to Atletico in June 2010 for an undisclosed fee. Since then, Costa has made a superb 94 league appearances and 43 league goals during his 4 year spell with the club. In his time, he suffered with a few injuries during his time. This include his hamstring injury he suffered near to the end of the 2013-14 La Liga season.

Costa playing for Chelsea against Arsenal in October 2014

Chelsea

On 1 July 2014, it was announced that Chelsea had agreed a fee with Atletico to sign Costa for a fee of £32 million. He made his first league appearance against Burnley in a game which he scored in for Chelsea to win 3–1.

International career

During his international career, he started with the Brazilian National Team in 2013. He only made 2 appearances with no goals. But controversy was created when Costa was granted a Spanish Citizernship in 2014. Then, Costa adopted Spain as his national side. He made his debut against Italy on the 5 March 2014, Spain won 1–0. Costa was called-up to play for Spain in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He started for both of the first two games of Spain's torlument against Holland and Chile, but was rested against Australia. Spain lost 5–1 against Holland And 2–0 against Chile. They did win 3–0 against Australia in their final group game, but it wasn't enough to keep them to progess into the knock out phases. Costa is still yet to score a goal for Spain during his time playing as a striker for the national side.

References
  1. "Italy 2 - 2 Brazil Match report - 3/21/13 Friendlies - Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  2. "Diego Costa snubs call up from home country Brazil to represent Spain - inside World Soccer". www.insideworldsoccer.com.
  3. Jackson, Henry. "CBF demand Diego Costa loses Brazilian citizenship - Goal.com". www.goal.com.
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