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  • 'I Can Sleep At Night Because I Know I've Done Nothing Wrong!' - Chelsea Striker Diego Costa

  • Diego Costa has given his first English newspaper interview and the striker opens up about his journey from the streets of Brazil to the Premier League.


    ‘In Brazil, if you have a son, the first thing you give him is a football,’ he says. ‘That’s the first gift, so my dad was no different. I grew up playing football on the streets with my friends and that’s why I was brought up the way I was. That’s the school I had — the street football.
    ‘Those football games were always in the afternoon and, as a kid, you always had the strength and energy to play for a long time, until you were very tired. Usually the games did last all afternoon and I became used to playing with guys who were older than me, so it was not only about playing football but also about being street-smart.
    ‘You had to not only be able to do all the tricks but be able to shield the ball, use your body. You had to know how to be able to play on the streets because they were different. We had our own rules over there and that’s the way it was in order to survive. What mattered was scoring goals and winning.’
    It is an education far removed from the pristine football academies of western Europe. Costa was not even signed up by a professional club until he was 15 and even then it was in the fourth division of a regional Brazilian league. His was no gilded youth, though equally it was not an upbringing without discipline: his mother saw to that.
    ‘In order to be able to play football I had to behave, because every time my mum asked for something, I had to do it — then she would agree that I would be able to go and play football which is what I liked,’ he says. ‘So I had to get good grades in school, behave and do everything my mum wanted in order to be able to be free and play football.’
    It was, however, tough. ‘I only played with players my age when I played on a school team or with a club when we played tournaments against other cities and stuff like that. But I was always a bit bigger than the rest of the kids so I have always enjoyed playing against older guys on the streets — two, three years older than me — because it was a better game for me. It was better to learn, to become better as well. It was a quicker game and I have always been strong.’ 
     Tuesday night, a compelling semi-final against Liverpool and a clash with Can, when Costa pushed his foot down on the Liverpool player’s shin, a stamp which earned him a three-match ban and meant he missed out on Saturday night’s top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City.

    ‘As far as what happened on Tuesday, the main thing is when I get home and I can sleep knowing I’ve not done anything wrong, because I never meant to do that and it was not on purpose,’ he says.
    ‘And you can clearly see that on the video. But it is a suspension. I have to accept that, I have to take it. Obviously I feel sad because I’m not going to be able to play or to help the team. But I have to accept and respect it.
    ‘I’m not saying I’m an angel — I’m no angel. You can see that. But every time I play I will play the same way because that’s the way I am. That’s what I need to do in order to support my family. That’s my bread and butter; also that’s what I need to do for this club, for the fans and for all the people involved in this club.
    ‘On the pitch I will always be like that. That’s my character and I will always compete. I’m a different guy off the pitch — as you can see — but on it I will not change. And I want to say this again: you can look at the video and interpret it how you want but I know I can sleep in peace because I know I didn’t mean to do it.’  


    - DailyMail

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