Oscar always tells me I should come to play in England but I love the USA
I was told I was lucky, people who break their spine usually can’t walk
KAKA takes his mind back to the days before he lived up the road from Mickey Mouse. To when he was one of the original superstars, the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi of his day. To 2007, when he was deemed the best player on the planet, receiving almost twice as many votes as those two young pretenders to become the Ballon d’Or winner.
Kaka’s year was 2007, when he singlehandedly obliterated Manchester United over two legs in the Champions League semi-final with AC Milan on his way to winning it and ending the tournament as top scorer.
Today he is the star of Orlando City, playing out the final days of a distinguished career on the doorstep of Disney World in the Sunshine State where we meet.
First we discuss his £56million transfer from Milan to Real Madrid in 2009, which put him behind only Zinedine Zidane as the world’s most expensive player.
He won La Liga and the Copa del Rey under a certain Jose Mourinho. ‘ His ambition for victory sets Mourinho apart,’ Kaka says of the Chelsea manager. ‘He wants to win every game, so he prepares all the smallest details; in training, at the game, everything. I loved working with him.
‘He tries everything to extract the best from the players, to push them. This is what he can do better than anyone.’
Many believe Kaka, whose real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite but who developed the nickname when his younger brother Digao could not pronounce Ricardo growing up, did not live up to his fee during a four-year spell in Spain.
He admitted he lacked consistent playing time under Mourinho, yet Kaka’s capacity to forgive shines through.
That humbleness is partly down to his religious upbringing. An iconic image remains from when Kaka won the Champions League for the first time. AC Milan beat Liverpool to avenge their incredible defeat in Istanbul in 2005, a memory Kaka merely laughs at.
At the final whistle in 2007 — after having a hand in both goals in a 2-1 win — Kaka fell to his knees and took off his shirt to reveal a vest with ‘I belong to Jesus’ written on it. He held his hands out wide, closed his eyes and raised his head to the heavens.
Sitting in the luxurious Alfond Inn, in the upmarket Winter Park area of Orlando, he says: ‘I grew up with the Bible and my values come from there. I had an opportunity to say to the world I belong to Jesus and I wanted to.’
Kaka was immersed in his faith long before a ‘miracle’ occurred in his life, aged 18, which could have put paid to any football career.
He was playing by a swimming pool when he slipped on a diving board and broke his back. ‘I broke my sixth vertebra,’ he recalls.
‘I went to the doctor and he said I was lucky because people that suffer that injury can’t even walk.
‘My first question was, “Can I play football again?” They said, “No, you need to just be happy you can walk”.’ Two months later he was kicking a ball.
It meant he got to share a pitch with both Ronaldos; the Brazilian one for the national team and the Portuguese megastar at Real Madrid. Kaka was the world’s second-most expensive player for less than 48 hours before Cristiano followed him to Real for a then world record £80m.
He insists he was delighted to be usurped by Ronaldo as the world’s best player. ‘I won the Ballon d’Or and World Player of Year against Cristiano and Messi,’ he adds. ‘They win it every year now, but I could beat them back then.’
Two years Ronaldo’s senior, Kaka (right), who considers the Portuguese a more complete player than Messi, has come to America — not merely to pick up a vast paycheck.
It was two years ago, he says, that he told Orlando City owner Flavio Augusto da Silva that he wanted to play in the MLS.
He announced himself by scoring the first goal for Orlando City in their MLS debut against New York City earlier this month.
In front of a 63,000-strong crowd at the Orlando Citrus Bowl, he celebrated as if he had scored in a World Cup final after netting a late equaliser.
He claims he could have one more World Cup in him for Brazil at Russia in 2018. ‘It is in three and a half years and if (Brazil manager) Dunga needs me, I’ll be ready,’ he says. Kaka, now 32, would have loved to have played in the Premier League. He had his chance in 2009, when Manchester City and Chelsea were interested, but he has no regrets. He follows the league closely, keeping regular
contact with his friends Oscar, Filipe Luis and Willian at Chelsea and Mesut Ozil at Arsenal. ‘They joke with me saying, “Come and play for Chelsea or Arsenal” but I am so happy here.’
Kaka knows what football means in England. He understands that Ronaldinho dashed a nation’s dreams when he looped a freakish 35-yard free-kick over David Seaman to knock England out of the 2002 World Cup, which he maintains was a cross and resulted in him lifting football’s greatest prize.
He also appreciates what it meant to Liverpool to come back from 3-0 down to beat Kaka’s Milan on penalties to win the 2005 Champions League. ‘It’s still one of the best finals ever,’ he insists, ‘even if I was on the losing side.’
Those moments belong in the annals of history, just as much as Kaka belongs to Jesus.