Personal information
Full name Diego da Silva Costa
Date of birth 7 October 1988 (age 24)
Place of birth Lagarto, Brazil
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Striker
Diego da Silva Costa (born 7 October 1988) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Atlético Madrid in La Liga, as a striker. He is well known for his strength, pace and attacking intelligence.
Born in Lagarto, Sergipe, Costa started his career at Barcelona Esportivo Capela in São Paulo, being limited to street football until the age of 16.[1] His first professional adventure was in Portugal as he signed in February 2006 with S.C. Braga,[2] after which he spent the following months with the club's reserves.
In the 2006 summer Costa was loaned to F.C. Penafiel, in the second division. In December, however, he was sold to Spain's Atlético Madrid, for €1.5 million and 50% of the player's rights.[3] He remained on loan at Braga until the end of the season, scoring his first goal for the club in the UEFA Cup, a 1–0 win at Parma FC (2–0 on aggregate); for the following two years he would be again loaned, on both occasions to second level outfits, starting with Celta de Vigo then with Albacete Balompié, appearing and scoring regularly.[4]
Valladolid[edit]
On 8 July 2009 Costa was sold to Real Valladolid as part of the deal that sent goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo in the opposite direction, with the transfer including a buy-back option that could be activated by Atlético at the end of the season.[5]
He started strong for the Castile and León side, scoring six times in his first 12 games, but only found the net once in the following five 1/2 months as the campaign eventually ended in La Liga relegation.
Return to Atlético[edit]
In June 2010 Costa returned to the Colchoneros, initially as a backup to Sergio Agüero and Diego Forlán – Atlético also paid an undisclosed sum to Braga to buy all the residual 30% economic rights (the former also had to pay an exceed of €0.833 million agent fee to Gestifute[6]). On 26 September, benefitting from injury to the Argentine (who was sitting on the substitutes bench), he scored the game's only goal at home against Real Zaragoza.[7] On 3 April of the following year, already as a starter after manager Quique Flores demoted the Uruguayan from his position, he netted all of his team's goals in a 3–2 win at CA Osasuna.[8]
In late July 2011, during Atlético's preseason, Costa suffered a serious knee injury, going on to miss the majority of the season.[9] On 23 January 2012 he was loaned to fellow league club Rayo Vallecano, until June;[10] he scored four goals in his first three games, namely twice in a 5–3 away win against Levante UD.[11]
During December 2012, Costa was involved in several field altercations in two separate matches, starting in a 0–2 local derby loss against Real Madrid where he avoided disciplinary action, and being sent off in the following game at FC Viktoria Plzeň, for the season's Europa League (0–1 defeat, he eventually was handed a four-match ban by UEFA[12]).[13][14] This, however, did not deter coach Diego Simeone from continuing to start him, and he responded by netting three goals in two home contests, against Deportivo de La Coruña in the league (6–0)[15] and Getafe CF in the campaign's Copa del Rey (3–0).[16]
After the Spanish Cup semifinals against Sevilla FC, Costa took his goal tally in the competition to seven in as many games,[17] having scored three times in the tie: in the first leg he netted two penalties (2–1)[18] and, in the second at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, scored one after an individual effort and assisted Radamel Falcao in the other, also being involved in situations which resulted in two opponent players – Gary Medel and Geoffrey Kondogbia – receiving their marching orders in the 2–2 draw.[19]
Costa scored Atlético's equalizing goal in the domestic cup final clash against city-rivals Real Madrid on 17 May 2013,[20] contributing to the 2–1 win – the first in 25 games in a streak stretching back to 1999 – and the tenth win in the tournament, confirmed by Miranda's extra time header. Thus, he became the topscorer of the tournament with eight successful strikes, one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.[21]
In the beginning of August 2013 Costa was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool, who allegedly matched his release clause of €25 million and offered him three times his salary at Atlético.[22] However, he chose to stay at the club and renewed his contract until 2018, while also doubling his wages;[23] he celebrated this a few days later, in the first match of the new season, scoring a brace in a 3–1 win at Sevilla.[24]
International career[edit]
On 5 March 2013, Costa was called up by Brazilian national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for friendlies with Italy in Geneva and Russia in London, both taking place late in that month.[25] He made his debut in the first match, replacing Fred midway through the second half of the 2–2 draw.
In September 2013, the Royal Spanish Football Federation made an official request to FIFA for permission to call up Costa for the Spanish national football team.[26]
[COLOR="silver"]- - - Updated - - -[/COLOR]
20 goals and 8 assists last season
8 goals so far this season
Seems like an elite striker in the making
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