You know what Werder Bremen’s president said when they asked him for how much money he’d be willing to sell Diego? “If they want to take him from us, they’ll have to kill me first.” And he wasn’t alone.
Back then, Diego seemed to have the entire football world at the palm of his hand. All the legends came down from their thrones to sing praises for the new kid on the block. In Brazil, Ronaldo paraded him around like a proud father. Zico claimed he reminded him of his younger self, while Altafini said he was even better, “faster and more versatile.”
In Italy, Anastasi called him a mix of Zidane, Baggio, and Platini, while Vialli literally said that he was “worth as much as Messi or Ronaldo. One of the three best players in the world.” Even in Germany, the great Beckenbauer claimed he was “the perfect player” and that the reason Bremen was destroying Bayern was that “They have Diego and we don’t.”
At that moment, it really felt like nothing could go wrong. His future at the top of football was seen with such certainty that when Özil started popping off, they called him “The next Diego.” Bayern, Real Madrid, Juve… everyone came for him. It wasn’t just because he had been nominated for the Ballon d’Or or that he had nearly 100 goal contributions in just 3 seasons at Bremen. No, everyone already knew he was a once-in-a-generation talent eight years before that.
Becoming The Heir To Pelé’s Number 10
When Santos went into a meltdown, not having won anything at the national level since back when Pelé was still around, they struggled to even pay their own players and watched them leave left and right. You know who they relied on to save the club? The kids in the academy. They were mocked by the entire country, but while they laughed, they didn’t realize those unremarkable names would one day become known all over the world: Alex, Elano, Robinho, but above all, Diego.
At 16 years of age, in his first ever season, Diego was handed Pelé’s number 10 shirt and told to save his own club. In the eyes of everyone in the country, this was an impossible mission, but that was only until he touched the ball. The way Diego carried himself on the pitch, had it not been for his baby face, you would assume you were watching a veteran. With two games left before the start of the league season, he got his very own trial by fire.
São Paulo had the best team in the country: Ceni, Júlio Baptista, Luís Fabiano, but above all, 20-year-old Ricardo Kaká. Since there’s no better way to prove you’re the heir to the Brazilian throne than to slay the next in line, that was exactly what Diego did. Thanks to his two assists, Santos had announced to the country that they were not to be joked about.
But if that time he came out on top, six months later when they met again, it was a disaster. One goal behind, with minutes left on the clock and three red cards on the stats sheet, Diego missed a penalty, then got to retake it only because Ceni had come off his line. Once he scored, he had the nerve to run 60 yards just so he could celebrate by stomping on the São Paulo badge, riling up the entire stadium and getting mobbed by their players, only to end up going behind again just five minutes later. In one single motion, Diego had undone all of his work and convinced the entire country that he was nothing but a stuck-up brat.
Thankfully for him, just a month later, he got to redeem himself. With Santos somehow making it to the knockout stage of the Brazilian championship on goal difference and having to face São Paulo yet again, Diego scored in both legs to put them through to the semifinals. As his teammate Wellington said, “They were the favorites… The day we beat them, we got back to town and there was a sea of fans waiting… That was precisely when we realized we could win it all.”
Ten days later, in the final, it was Diego who put down an incredible assist for the goal that would put Santos in front. Once it was all done, Diego had become the youngest ever player to win the Brazilian Championship. While most previous record holders were just benchwarmers in some super team, Diego was a star player in one of the greatest underdog stories in the history of football.
And they weren’t done yet.
The next year, the Libertadores was waiting for them. In the group stage, Diego was involved in six goals in six matches, from free kicks to back heel assists. He was already all over the headlines. Then, right in the first match of the knockout stage, he put down one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, putting in pass after pass, being involved in all four goals as Santos held the game to a draw.
He simply did not stop. In the quarters, he scored maybe the goal of the tournament, and in the semis, he assisted the opener and then put in an incredible goal for the third to take them to their first final in 40 years. But just as the greatest story got even greater, Boca beat them mercilessly.
Still, it had been an incredible year. Nike had named him the best player in South America. He had not only gotten his first call-up to the national team, but he had joined forces with Kaká to take Brazil’s under 23s to the final of the Gold Cup, which is not even meant to be an under 23 tournament. Pelé himself had said that he “had what it takes” to become better than he was, which is just absurd. To top it all off, Ronaldo himself invited him for a ceremonial match between him and Zidane. At 18 years of age, Diego was on a guest list alongside Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, and Beckham.
But then, as it would eventually become usual, things took a dive. In January 2004, Brazil crashed out of the Pre-Olympic tournament and missed out on the competition entirely. Once it was all done, even if Diego had been involved in six goals in seven matches, people had not let go of the idea that he was “just a stuck-up brat,” so he was made into a scapegoat.
As much as several players spoke out in his defense, even though he was made captain at Santos, by July, he got called up to the Copa América. After a quiet tournament, mostly spent on the bench, it was Diego who stepped up with seconds left in the final and put in the assist for the goal that allowed Brazil to take the game to penalties and take the trophy. As much as the fans may have been willing to forgive him then, it was too late.
Becoming A World Champion At 19
Only a couple of weeks later, European Champions FC Porto had already signed him. If three years before he had been dealt an impossible hand, this time it wasn’t much different. His job at his new club would be to replace Deco, that year’s Ballon d’Or runner-up and maybe the greatest number 10 in the history of the club, all while the entire team dealt with the departure of José Mourinho.
Regardless, even if Porto collapsed without the Special One around, going through three managers in a single year and scoring a measly 39 goals over an entire league season, Diego was a beacon of hope. As much as he wasn’t blowing anyone’s minds, especially after four years of watching a genius like Deco, you could see the potential he had. With Porto somehow still winning the Intercontinental Cup amid all the chaos, Diego could call himself a world champion at 19 years of age, even if, once again, he had been sent off for getting “overly excited” with his celebration.
No matter what, as his second season started and Co Adriaanse took over the team, there was no indication that his time at the club would be over anytime soon. In fact, 17 matches into the league season, Porto were in first place with six points to spare, and Diego was more than a regular starter.
But then, in Diego’s own words: “Everything was fine, but then we lost one match and the manager calls me into a room with a translator. He tells me that he’s changing the tactical system, that I’m no longer needed and that I should look for a new club… just like that. I thought my career was over. I couldn’t even sleep.”
In a season where he was planning to secure a call-up to the World Cup, he was now a complete outcast, not getting a single minute of playing time over the final four months of the season. But if every club in Brazil was approaching him, trying to convince him to go back, Diego rejected every offer.
From Reject To Ballon Dor Nominee In 3 Years
He had promised himself that he would reach the top of the football world, and he was not leaving Europe until he had made that a reality. In May 2006, Diego finally signed for Werder Bremen. Yet again, they handed him the number 10 shirt and asked him to replace none other than Johan Micoud, considered by many the greatest player in the history of the club. Still, as toxic as it was to repeatedly put these kinds of expectations on a 21-year-old, just as he had done at Santos, Diego made the impossible look easy.
In his first start, he defeated Bayern to take the Ligapokal. In his Bundesliga debut, he scored a goal and assisted two others. Six days after that, he assisted two more, being named the league’s player of the month. This became a habit for Diego. In October, with three goals and four assists in three matches, he won it again. In December, he made three, and by the turn of the year, he was being named the best player in the league. Diego mania had taken over the Bundesliga.
It quickly became clear that Diego was the sort of player who had to be handled with care. As one newspaper put it: “Diego is the textbook definition of a star. When a player delivers the way he does, some indiscretions can be put to the side.” That was exactly what the incredible Thomas Schaaf understood, while others simply couldn’t, turning what should’ve been an incredible career into a toxic rollercoaster. But for now, Diego was still phenomenal.
Over the second half of the season, even if Bremen slowed down and allowed Schalke and Stuttgart to take their place at the top of the table, Diego never stopped putting numbers on the board. He even played maybe his best game of the season in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, demolishing AZ Alkmaar with a goal and two assists. But if any moment defined that season, it was his goal against Alemannia Aachen. With Real Madrid scouts and Pelé himself watching from the stands, Diego smacked it in from over 60 yards. By the time the season was over, even though Bremen missed out on the title, Kicker magazine had named Diego as the best player in the country.
With the Copa America to be played over the summer, it was a huge moment for Diego. Or at least it would have been, had Dunga not forced him to watch from the sidelines as Brazil lifted the trophy. Just look at their starting eleven—it’s unbelievable. But moving on, the moment his second season started, Diego was going full speed.
Right in the Champions League playoffs, he was the man of the match, scoring one and assisting the other to put Bremen in the competition. Once there, though they would be out in the group stage, his performance against Real Madrid was so impressive that Van Nistelrooy himself said, “He has to play for Real.” That was exactly when the flirting started, with player and club going back and forth, praising one another.
In fact, it got so intense that the Werder Bremen president had to intervene, speaking the famous words: “If they want to take Diego from us, they’ll have to kill me first. Diego will only leave Bremen over my dead body. No one from Real has come to talk to me. Diego has a contract for many, many years and he will stay with us, because he is ours.” Regardless, once the season was done, the rumors only worsened. Diego was called up for the Olympic games and pulled off two goals and four assists in just six matches, easily being one of the stars of the competition as Brazil took the bronze medal.
Even though the following season would easily be the best of his career, it was also the season that ruined it. Don’t believe me? Well, let me tell you that after Diego played against Bolivia one month into that season, he would never play for Brazil again. Still, that year, Diego scored 21 goals and provided 11 assists, all from midfield. In the UEFA Cup, his name was all over the headlines. He scored and assisted against AC Milan, and in the quarters, he scored a mind-blowing four goals.
When they coincidentally met their rivals Hamburg in the semifinals, totaling up to four derbies in just 19 days, he made history, leading Bremen to win all four encounters. Even though he’d end up getting a yellow card and missing the final, which Bremen just couldn’t win without him, those bragging rights meant more to the fans than anything else. He made it up to them by assisting the decisive goal in the German cup final a week later, bringing the trophy home.
The Decision That Killed Diego’s Career
Once it was all said and done, Diego was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon d’Or. At that point, he was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world. But then he made a mistake. While his dream was to play for Guardiola, Barça never came for him. When Bayern did, he refused to betray Bremen.
With Real being Real, they refused to guarantee him a place in the starting eleven, which he didn’t like very much. Juventus, knowing Nedved would retire soon and still desperate to recover from the Calciopoli scandal which sent them down to the second tier, were willing to make him their most expensive signing in almost a decade and promised him they’d build the whole project around him, making him the best-paid player on the team. And so, he caved in.
It was so shocking at the time that even club legend Gianluca Vialli admitted he was “stunned he had picked them over Real.” One year later, even if Diego had carried the team, pulling off an impressive 22 goal contributions, Juve had appointed former player Ciro Ferrara as manager, thinking it’d be just like Guardiola at Barcelona. Instead, he sent them down to seventh place in the table, undoing all the work Ranieri had done over the previous two years, and pretty much cutting Diego’s market value in half, killing all the hype surrounding his name, as well as any hope that he’d be called up to the World Cup.
Diego, still only 24 years old, got so traumatized over this that, as soon as he could, he tried to get a move back to Bremen. When they told him it was “financially impossible,” he went to Wolfsburg instead, thinking it was close enough. But all that was waiting for him was more of the same.
With Wolfsburg on a massive downturn following their shocking Bundesliga title in 2009, they made Diego their all-time record transfer, thinking he’d fix their problems. Instead, he got into a massive public clash with manager Steve McClaren, culminating in Diego disobeying his orders, taking a penalty he was not supposed to as the team trailed behind against Hannover, skying it, losing the match, and falling down to 13th place, only one point above the relegation line.
This led McClaren to be sacked and Diego not only to be fined but also to get on the wrong side of the board. New manager Felix Magath eventually left him out of the squad for their decisive relegation match, to which Diego simply walked out of the training grounds without any explanation, severing any ties he had left with the club.
From there on out, he was left in a vicious cycle. Wolfsburg refused to sell Diego for cheap while other clubs repeatedly tried to shake them down. At one point, Diego found himself on loan at Atlético where he formed a truly scary partnership with Radamel Falcao, getting three assists in the semifinals against Valencia and then scoring and assisting in the final, taking Atlético to their second-ever Europa League trophy.
Negotiations got difficult, and they ended up only finding an agreement a year and a half later, watching Atlético choke the Champions League final in the last minute. With his 30th anniversary seemingly catching up to him in the blink of an eye, he left for Fenerbahçe. As everyone assumed his time in the spotlight was over, following two less than memorable seasons in Turkey, he made a comeback, or I guess, two.
The Unbelievable Comeback Of Diego
In 2016, Diego arrived at Flamengo in a transfer that fired up their fans so much that his name was trending worldwide on Twitter. He was worth the hype. Nicknamed by the media as “The Diego Effect,” Flamengo had gone from mediocre to incredible from one season to the next. By 2018, Diego had rebuilt his reputation so much that a call-up to the World Cup was being rumored.
However, as always, it was right then that everything blew up again. Diego suddenly underperformed, was dropped to the bench, and almost left for Orlando City, where he would ironically replace Kaká. He eventually chose to stay and turned his form around, only to end up breaking his leg and being told he was out for the season. This was why I said that he made two comebacks.
In his own words, “Everyone told me to stop… they said, ‘36 years old, already an idol, and you’re gonna risk it all?!’ But I told them all that I was gonna come back and win the Libertadores.” Unbelievably, two months later, Diego was back on the pitch. Though it would be a while before he got substantial game time, by November, with Flamengo trailing in the final of the Libertadores, his prophecy came true. He came in, and the fabled Diego Effect went into motion.
With one minute left on the clock, he won the ball back and set off the counterattack that allowed them to tie the match. In injury time, he set up Gabigol for the winning goal. By the end of the match, Jorge Jesus referred to the man once known as “a stuck-up brat” as “one of the greatest captains he ever had the pleasure to watch.” If his status as a football legend was still in question, three years later, in the final season of his career, already more of a locker room figure than a star player, he lifted the Libertadores one more time. He became the second most successful captain in the history of the club, winning only one less trophy than the great Zico. Maybe the comparisons weren’t so absurd.
A seasoned software engineer with more than eleven years of experience who writes about news and international topics on the side. Afolabi, who holds a degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering, combines technical know-how with a sharp awareness of global events to offer a distinctive analytical viewpoint to his work. Afolabi is the one to turn to for perceptive commentary on world affairs.