LEAN, MEAN SCORING MACHINE
How Diego Costa shed two stone to become Spain’s...
Leaning back on a sun-lounger outside his family’s modest Brazilian home last summer, Diego Costa’s mind fleetingly turned to the World Cup.
The Spain frontman was on strike from Chelsea amid a bitter feud with manager antonio Conte and had threatened to spend the year unpaid in Brazil if the Stamford Bridge club refused to agree to his wish for a return to atletico Madrid.
Yet, for a moment, he let his guard drop. ‘One of my biggest concerns,’ Costa began, ‘is that i need to be in the best physical shape and ready to fire ahead of the World Cup in Russia.
‘in 2014, it did not go to plan for me at all. i didn’t score and we did not manage to get out of the group. next time, i want to show people what i’m really all about and make a big splash.’
a fortnight ago in Sochi, Costa stayed true to his word in the most devastating fashion.
With his side trailing to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, he sneered and snarled his way through the Portugal defence, shoving Pepe to the ground and shrugging off Jose Fonte.
Then he showcased the silk that accompanies his steel, as he composed himself and fired a low finish into the bottom corner of the Portugal goal.
Later on, his poacher’s instincts surfaced, as he equalised for a second time. against iran, he earned his luck, as his attempts to bulldoze through the opposition defence culminated in a fortuitous winning goal.
The old devilment reared its head when Costa evaded a red card for slyly stepping on the foot of iranian goalkeeper alireza Beiranvand.
afterwards, he simply shrugged his shoulder and said: ‘What game were you watching? it was them who were provoking.’
iran defender Morteza Pouraliganji reportedly took a different view: ‘The things he said to me right from the start were just disgusting,’ he said. ‘He insulted my entire family. He just turned around and looked me in the eye and insulted both my mother and sister.’
no doubt there will be a mix of his steel, class and devilment on display when Spain take on Russia tomorrow in the round of 16 tie in the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Back home in Lagarto, Costa’s small Brazilian home town has transformed into a small Spanish enclave for the World Cup.
The locals split their allegiances between Brazil and Spain, wearing atletico shirts with the striker’s name splashed across the back.
He is a hero in Lagarto, where his funding has helped rebuild a local stadium and he provides cash for the local community football centre for hundreds of children.
Yet when Costa finally arrived at atletico Madrid in late September last year, such moments felt a lifetime away.
amid the recriminations of his transfer, Costa was left out of Spain’s September international against italy, as alvaro Morata and David Villa were preferred.
indeed, when Costa returned to atletico, having spent the summer partying in Lagarto, the club’s fitness coach Oscar Ortega deemed him to be more than a stone overweight. But with atletico’s transfer ban in force, there was time to bring him up to speed ahead of his January return.
as Costa checked into Madrid’s Barajas airport amid the flashing cameras, he said: ‘i’m not afraid about stepping back on to the scales; but i am afraid of Ortega’s conditioning sessions.’
To his credit, Costa returned motivated. This was in contrast to a previous summer return to atletico Madrid, when he came back late and two stone overweight. He told his manager Quique Sanchez Flores: ‘My mother is to blame, she’s far too good a cook.’
immediately, Ortega and the club’s nutritionist David Lagos cleaned up Costa’s diet.
argentine coach Diego Simeone is sympathetic to the South american love of barbecued meat but Costa was told to cut back, as Lagos devised a daily menu of five
small meals based on olive oil, steamed fish and fresh fruit and vegetables.
Everything was monitored, from his calorie intake to the amount of water he took in during gruelling training sessions.
The training was psychological as well as physical. On several occasions, Ortega made Costa train alone on the touchline, even placing a stationary bike for him to work on as the rest of the group enjoyed possession-based exercises and five-a-side games.
The aim was to tease and taunt him, whetting his appetite to return as soon as possible to the main group.
Ortega introduced variety to Costa’s fitness plan. He attended team-mate Fernando Torres’ private gym where he underwent a series of boxing fitness classes to improve his reactions, balance and co-ordination. As his motivation grew, he subsequently built a gym into his own home.
Between October and the start of January, Costa gained muscle and shed fat. There were moments of pain, where he unloaded at his fitness tormentors, but at Atletico they know his personality well. They know that a Costa outburst is swiftly followed by a laugh and a friendly hug.
This is where Conte went wrong. He refused to forgive and forget. When Costa clashed with Chelsea fitness coach Julio Tous he was dropped from the squad for the visit to Leicester and relations did not recover between the player and manager.
Yet Conte aside, those who have managed, played alongside and worked with Costa cannot help but like him. They indulge the child in a man’s body.
On one European away trip he ransacked the Chelsea physio’s hotel room along with Ramires and Willian. At the club’s training ground at Cobham, he took up a habit of stealing the keys to the club’s medical buggies and then dumping the vehicles in a ditch.
When Costa was on strike at Chelsea, many players continued to speak with him over WhatsApp. So, too, did Roman Abramovich’s most trusted director Marina Granovskaia.
In Simeone, Costa has a natural ally and the same was said of Julen Lopetegui, the Spain manager dramatically sacked on the eve of the World Cup.
Costa’s interest in a move to China waned partly because Lopetegui told him that the Spain set-up wanted him to be playing high-level European football.
Despite dropping Costa last autumn, Lopetegui remained supportive. He told friends even back then he wanted Costa to be his starting striker in Russia.
He sent encouraging messages while Costa was out of action and the pair spoke for just short of half-an-hour in person when Lopetegui came to watch an Atletico game in October.
For Atletico, Costa was not at his bulldozing best in the final months of the season but he was warming up nicely.
As the fire resurfaced, he scored seven goals and collected eight yellow cards. On his first game back, he scored, got booked and went off injured. On his first home game, he scored and was sent off.
His performance alongside Antoine Griezmann was central to the club winning the Europa League.
Under Vicente del Bosque, it took Costa ten games to score his first Spain goal. His decision to convert allegiances from Brazil was not popular everywhere in his adopted country.
Some supporters taunted him with chants of ‘No eres Español’ (You’re not Spanish). He accused journalists of treating him differently because he is not a ‘natural Spaniard’.
To Chelsea and Atletico fans, he is the game’s modern anti-hero. To rival supporters, he is an exasperating wind-up merchant and a guilty pleasure. But for his national team, he was the odd one out.
Yet under Loptegui, there were six goals in nine games and his two in Fernando Hierro’s first match in charge, the 3-3 draw with Portugal in their opening match in Russia, have assured him of a special place in Spanish hearts at last.