Fifa’s hierarchy and Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, ran him close, but Brazilian-turned-Spanish striker Diego Costa can take away one prize at the World Cup – the most-booed man in Brazil.
A cacophony of boos and whistles greeted Costa’s every touch in his two games, which brought a 5-1 thumping at Dutch hands and a 2-0 loss to Chile as Spain made the quickest exit from contention by a defending champion.
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It was scant consolation that Costa did not have that many touches – just 50, according to the statisticians – and five shots on goal, none on target.
Social media was quick to mock.
Under the line “Diego’s Costa’s best goals at the World Cup”, contributor FutballTweets posted a mocked up YouTube image bearing the caption: “This video does not exist.”
The Atletico Madrid star could have been battling Luiz Felipe Scolari favourite Fred for the chance to lead the line for Brazil, but he elected to take Spanish nationality and dump dreams of stardom for the country of his birth.
For Spain, he sank without trace as “tiki-taka” and his own bustling style proved incompatible, Chile and their three central defenders barring his route to goal.
The jeers rained down louder than ever as coach Vicente Del Bosque sent on Fernando Torres and hauled off Costa, who grew up in the north-eastern town of Lagarto and began his career in Portugal with Braga.
Both are set to compete for the main striker’s role at Chelsea next season as he declared after the Chile disaster that “my future is more over there than at Atletico”, with whom he won the Spanish league.
Reports in the English media on Monday said he had already completed a medical with a view to a €40-million (Dh199.6m) move.
Costa appeared in two friendlies for Brazil last year before pledging allegiance to Spain, prompting a bemused Scolari to state: “He is turning his back on a dream of millions, to represent our national team, the five-time champions in a World Cup in Brazil.”
After seeing his dreams of glory with Spain in his homeland turn to dust, Costa said: “It’s been a good year in many respects but a tough one in others.”
Despite his World Cup travails Costa appears to have a big fan in the Chelsea coach, Jose Mourinho, who complained about a lack of strikers at Stamford Bridge last season despite having €60m man Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o in his ranks.
The Spanish sports daily Marca earlier this week quoted Mourinho as saying that “Costa is a footballer I want in my team.”
Under Mourinho, the fact that, as Brazilian media suggested on Thursday, “Spanish tiki-taka and Costa are incompatible”, will not be an issue.
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