Diego Costa

Diego da Silva Costa (born 7 October 1988) is a Brazilian-Spanish footballer who plays as a striker for Grêmio and the Spanish national football team.

 Football career 
Costa was born in Brazil, and played for the Brazil national football team for the first time in 2013. However, he then chose to play for Spain. This made the Brazilian football manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, very angry. The Brazilian Football Confederation have even asked the country's government to remove Costa's citizenship. (The right to be a country's citizen).

In March 2014, Costa became a member of the Spanish national football 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 (Brazilian football club), 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 . Unfortunately, he didn't get a game to play 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. (Italian football team). 

 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.

 Real Valladolid 
Costa was bought by Real Valladolid 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. 

 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.

Career statistics
Club

ClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsPenafiel (loan)2006–07Liga de Honra13510———145Braga (loan)2006–07Primeira Liga6010—21—91Celta Vigo (loan)2007–08Segunda División30610———316Albacete (loan)2008–09Segunda División351010———3610Valladolid2009–10La Liga34821———369Atlético Madrid2010–11La Liga28651—61—3982012–13La Liga311088—52—44202013–14La Liga352761—98205236Total94431910—20112013564Rayo Vallecano (loan)2011–12La Liga161000———1610Chelsea2014–15Premier League2620103170—37212015–16Premier League2812421082—41162016–17Premier League35205220——42222017–18Premier League000000000000Total895210461152—12059Atlético Madrid2017–18La Liga15332—52—2372018–19La Liga16200—41122152019–20La Liga23500—70003052020–21La Liga7200—00—72Total611232—163128119155552212—36143221683Atlético Mineiro2021Série A15431—10—195Wolverhampton Wanderers2022–23Premier League2311010——251Botafogo2023Série A13300—20—153Grêmio2024Série A1000—106686Career total430154421871571798543198

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoalsBrazil201320Total20Spain201471201530201643201722201884Total2410Career total2610

As of match played 20 June 2018. Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Costa goal.

+ International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competitionNo.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition112 October 2014Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg73–04–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification25 September 2016Estadio Reino de León, León, Spain121–08–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification35–049 October 2016Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania141–02–0  2018 FIFA World Cup qualification524 March 2017El Molinón, Gijón, Spain153–04–1  2018 FIFA World Cup qualification611 June 2017Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia162–02–1  2018 FIFA World Cup qualification727 March 2018Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain181–06–1Friendly815 June 2018Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, Russia211–13–32018 FIFA World Cup92–21020 June 2018Kazan Arena, Kazan, Russia221–01–0 2018 FIFA World Cup

 Honours 

Atlético Madrid
La Liga: 2013–14, 2020–21
Copa del Rey: 2012–13
UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2013–14
UEFA Europa League: 2017–18
UEFA Super Cup: 2010, 2012, 2018

Chelsea
Premier League: 2014–15, 2016–17
FA Cup runner-up: 2016–17
Football League Cup: 2014–15

Atlético Mineiro
 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2021
 Copa do Brasil: 2021

Grêmio
 Campeonato Gaúcho: 2024

Individual
La Liga Player of the Month: September 2013
La Liga Team of the Season: 2013–14
Trofeo EFE: 2013–14
UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2013–14
Zarra Trophy: 2013–14
Premier League Player of the Month: August 2014, November 2016
PFA Team of the Year: 2014–15 Premier League

Records
Fastest goal in the UEFA Super Cup: 2018 (49 seconds in against Real Madrid)

 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 citizenship 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 tournament against the Netherlands 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 progress 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 

Category:1988 births
Category:Living people
Category:Chelsea F.C. players
Category:Footballers from Sergipe
Category:Premier League players
Category:Spanish footballers
Category:Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Category:2014 FIFA World Cup players
Category:2018 FIFA World Cup players