“Yes, Costa is one of La Liga’s finest wind-up merchants. Plenty of people don’t much like what he does yet they can’t help but admit that he’s very good at it. If other teams’ fans hate him, his fans love him – a little guiltily, perhaps, but still – and even those who hate him sometimes can’t help a sneaky smile. There is, after all, something a bit comic about it, something a bit cartoon bad guy. His is a dangerous game but it can be a pretty successful one too.”
These are the words of Sid Lowe back in 2013 as Diego Costa went on to be crowned a Copa del Rey champion as well as top scorer in the competition for Atletico Madrid.
However despite his obvious ability which is shown in his potency on the field his behaviour can often verge on profligate and tarnishes his reputation as a prolific goal-getter.
Before last Saturday’s 2-0 win over Arsenal questions were getting asked of the 26 year old following a dismal start the season with only one Premier League goal in five games to his name. Daily Mail writer Stephen credited this to persistent injuries and transfer speculation;
“The whole perception of the 26-year-old has switched in a matter of months from appreciation at his deadly abilities in front of goal to derision at the fighting, profligacy and now diving that has crept into his game”.
Costa thrives on adversity and sees the football arena as more of a street fight in an ‘every man for himself’ type scenario. The Brazilian turned Spanish international admitted; “I started playing football on the streets and that’s why I was brought up the way I was. That’s the school I had – street school.”
He went on to say that it didn’t matter how old the other guy was, how tall, how big he felt compelled to fight and show as little respect as possible. It seems his behaviour would see him even be excluded from the School of Hard-Knocks.
Football’s very own marmite character, the Premier League has yet another enigmatic renegade. Many have come out in Costa’s defence with variations of the statement ‘you’d have him in your team though’. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger called his actions disgusting following his clashes with both Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista, but even team-mate Kurt Zouma wasn’t particularly supportive of his actions as he admitted Costa likes to ‘cheat’ and get opponents ‘out of there game’.
There are vehement cries for Costa to face forceful retrospective action with the part he played in Saturday’s game. However despite what you may think of the abrasive striker he always leaves an indelible mark on any game he plays in.
