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An uncontrollable 'beast': remembering Diego Costa at Atlético
Off the pitch, Pasqués describes him as a generous, kind and sensitive man
Diego Costa. Photo: Atlético de Madrid official website
Rubén Uría recalls Diego Costa's ferocious intensity on the pitch. Pepe Pasqués reveals his other side: approachable, friendly and affectionate with his daughter at training.
Rubén Uría asks José Luis Pasqués about the most intense competitor he saw from the inside. As an onlooker, he has no doubt: Diego Costa. He says the striker took to the pitch with bloodshot eyes, and that at times he wondered whether someone had told him that, if they lost, his family would be killed or his house set on fire.
Pasqués describes him as two different people. On the pitch, for 90 or 120 minutes, he was one man; off it, he was generous, kind, sensitive and friendly. He recalls that whenever his young daughter came over from Buenos Aires to watch training, Costa always said hello to her, gave her shirts and started playing with her. On the pitch, though, heaven help you.
One of the panellists sums it up with the old line that he was a bastard, but he was our bastard, and Pasqués calls him one of those players you always want on your side.