LEAN, MEAN SCORING MACHINE
How Costa shed the pounds to be 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.
Costa was on strike from Chelsea amid a bitter feud with manager antonio Conte and he threatened to spend the year unpaid in Brazil if his 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. ‘it is that i need to be in the best physical shape and ready to fire before the World Cup. in 2014, it did not go to plan for me at all. i didn’t score and we did not get out of the group. next time, i want to show people what i’m all about.’
a fortnight ago in Sochi, Costa stayed true to his word in devastating fashion. He equalised twice against Portugal, shoving Pepe to the ground and shrugging off Jose Fonte before showcasing the silk that accompanies his steel with a low finish into the bottom corner for his first goal.
against iran, he earned his luck, as his attempts to bulldoze through the opposition defence culminated in a fortuitous winning goal. There was also the other side to Costa. He evaded a red card for slyly stepping on the foot of iran goalkeeper ali Beiranvand and was accused by defender Morteza Pouraliganji of insulting his mother and sister.
afterwards, Costa simply shrugged: ‘What game were you watching? it was them who were provoking.’
We can expect that mix of steel, class and mischief when Spain face Russia tomorrow at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
Yet when Costa finally arrived at atletico Madrid in late September last year — but not eligible to play until January — such moments felt a lifetime away. He 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 his hometown Lagarto, the club’s fitness coach Oscar Ortega deemed him to be at least a stone overweight.
When Costa arrived at Madrid’s Barajas airport, he told the flashing cameras: ‘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, when he returned to Madrid late and two stone overweight. He told his manager Quique Sanchez Flores: ‘Blame my mother, she’s far too good a cook.’
Ortega and the club’s nutritionist David Lagos cleaned up Costa’s diet when he arrived from Chelsea. argentinian manager Diego Simeone is sympathetic to the South american love of barbecued meat but Costa was told to cut back and Lagos devised a daily menu of five small meals based on olive oil, steamed fish and fresh fruit and vegetables.
everything was monitored, from Costa’s calorie intake to the amount of water he drank in gruelling fitness sessions. The training was psychological as well as physical. Ortega would make him train alone on the touchline, placing a stationary bike for Costa 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 Costa, whetting his appetite to return as soon as possible to the main group. Ortega introduced variety to Costa’s fitness plan. Costa attended team- mate Fernando Torres’s private gym, where he underwent a series of boxing fitness classes to improve his reactions, balance and coordination. as Costa’s motivation grew, he decided to build a gym into his own home.
Between October and the start of January he gained muscle and shed fat. There were moments when Costa tore into his fitness tormentors, but at atletico 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 Conte’s fitness coach Julio Tous, he was dropped from the Chelsea squad for the visit to Leicester and relations did not recover between the player and manager.
Conte aside, most who have worked with Costa indulge the child in a man’s body. On one european away trip, he ransacked a Chelsea physio’s hotel room along with Ramires and Willian. at Cobham, he took up a habit of stealing the keys to the club’s medical buggies and dumping the vehicles in a ditch.
in Simeone, Costa has a natural ally. 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.
His decision to convert allegiances from Brazil to Spain was not popular everywhere in Spain. Some supporters taunted him with chants of ‘ No eres
Espanol’ (‘You’re not Spanish’) and he accused journalists of treating him differently because he is not a ‘natural Spaniard’. He was the odd one out.
Yet three goals so far in Russia have assured him of a special place in Spanish hearts at last.