Atlético Madrid midfielder’s comeback from brain cancer and mother’s paralysis
Diego Costa’s mother Marcela, his father Julen and brother Mateo during a team photo ahead of a league game with Real Madrid at San Mamés on May 12, 2016 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Costa has been unable to play for the first three months of the season following his participation in the Copa del Rey final and was substituted in late April. He is currently on the disabled list (DL) after surgery to have titanium plates removed from his left shoulder. (Juan Carlos Muñoz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Diego Costa returned from his first long absence since suffering from a brain tumor in January and is already back in the starting lineup for the club’s last league game of the season. That is the good news. The bad news is he hasn’t played a game in March because of the surgery he had in early March to remove titanium plates from his shoulder. His next appearance will come Jan. 9 when he is set to be involved in the match against Las Palmas.
That’s not the only reason he was unable to play. He had to be put on a ventilator after a fall in his mother’s bedroom and then recovered from a second ventilator to help her breathe. His father, Julen, was also sick with pneumonia. During all three of those situations he was unconscious and needed support to help his breathing.
It’s a rough time for him and his family, but the good news is that his team is also fighting back. He is part of the official XI of the club.
There were a lot of people in Madrid who thought their time with the Spanish national team was over after he scored their last goal against Austria in the World Cup.
“I was surprised to hear that,” Costa told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday. “It was very difficult for us as a team and in society. We were happy to represent Spain but sometimes you don’t get a lot of chances to play for Spain. At the end of the day
