Douglas Costa: At Bayern I understood the winner's mentality, it was one of the happiest experiences of my career

Douglas Costa spoke in an interview with Chiamarsi Bomber, looking back on his professional journey from Shakhtar Donetsk to Bayern Munich and then Juventus, while also discussing goals, dribbling, great teammates he played alongside, and his upcoming new adventure in the UAE. This is the first part of the interview.

You are about to begin a new journey in Dubai. How did you make the decision to go to the UAE to play football? From both a professional and personal perspective, what attracts you most about this new experience?

First of all, because I have already played in so many places, and that is the only country where I have not played yet... (laughs). Besides that, the project is also very good. It is not only me, but also Mario (Balotelli) and Dani (Baselli), who previously played for Torino. I think we can do some very good things, and I am very excited about my choice.

Speaking of Balotelli, how did your friendship begin? Away from the spotlight, what kind of person is he privately?

I have known Mario for about two years. When I used to go out in Milan, I would often run into him. At that time I was preparing to go to Qatar to play, and the club asked me to call Mario because they also wanted to sign him. Later I called him, and he told me he was preparing to go to Dubai, then asked if I wanted to go with him.

I answered him, 'It depends on what the conditions are.' Later he introduced me to Lategano, who is both the owner of this club and the owner of Chievo. Lategano introduced the project to me.

As for Mario away from the spotlight? He is quiet, a very peaceful person, and he really loves football. That was one of the reasons I accepted his invitation. I have played with almost all of the top strikers, and now the only one left was Mario. In my opinion, he was once one of Italy's most important forwards. We were already friends, but we never had the chance to become teammates. Now we finally have that opportunity.

Have you gone out together before?

No. But now we will live together every day, so maybe something will happen in the future...

Last season you played in Serie D wearing a Chievo shirt. What kind of experience was that for you? What did it leave you with?

Because the foreign player quota in Dubai was already full, the opportunity to join Chievo came about. The club gave me a very positive surprise. Both the facilities and the people working there made me feel very good. When I arrived in Verona, there were only three or four months left in the season. I can say that if I had arrived earlier, I might have done better and perhaps even helped the team get promoted to Serie C, which was originally my goal.

To be honest, when I first arrived at Chievo, I thought it was just a place to 'wait' temporarily before going to Dubai. But later I gradually came to like it here. They were really very good to me. My teammates also welcomed me and gave me a lot of help. At the beginning, I needed to adapt to an environment like Serie D. Later I started playing the way I was familiar with, and everything became much smoother. Of course, that was also thanks to my teammates. Even the opponents were always very good to me. After every match, the scene would become chaotic, with fans everywhere.

This summer, club owner Lategano once again built a very strong squad. Do you think Chievo already has everything needed to continue climbing and aim for a return to Serie A in the near future?

Of course! Pietro (Lategano) has invested a huge amount of effort. Last Friday I went to watch the cup match live. The team has changed a lot, and in my opinion they have everything needed to compete for the league title. It will be difficult and challenging, but the project is very ambitious.

During your career, you were coached by Lucescu. What memories do you have of him? How important was he to your development?

Lucescu was my first coach after I came to Europe. At that time I was 19 years old, coming here from Gremio. It was a huge change, moving from Brazil to Ukraine, along with the cold weather there... At the time I only spoke Portuguese and was somewhat worried about the language issue. But communicating with him was easy because he mixed Portuguese, Spanish and Italian when he spoke.

He was very patient. He taught me how to integrate into the team and play, and also how to contribute defensively. He knew that Brazilian players like attacking and dribbling. Of course, there were also 11 other Brazilian players there at the time, which made my life much easier.

In any case, Lucescu is one of my mentors. He always encouraged me and always trusted me. Even after I left Ukraine, we maintained a very good relationship. At that time I was already playing for Bayern Munich, and he still wanted to take me to Dynamo Kyiv. I told him, 'Coach, no, you can't do that.'

I can say that, for me, he was like a father. I was only 19 years old when I came to a foreign country, and he gave me all the time I needed. If I later became the player I am today, he deserves some of the credit.

Let's go back to 2015. Bayern Munich, coached by Guardiola at the time, sent you an invitation. How did this opportunity come about? What did you think when you learned Guardiola wanted you?

At the time I was playing for Shakhtar Donetsk, and we faced Bayern in the Champions League round of 16. The first leg was in Ukraine, in very cold weather, and we drew 0-0. In the second leg we lost 0-7, and after only about five minutes of the match we were already down to 10 men...

For Brazilian players like us, the Champions League is like a stage to showcase ourselves and allow big European clubs to notice us. But after losing 0-7, I thought it would be very difficult for them to discover any talented players from our team.

I had a very good relationship with Bayern full-back Rafinha. After the match, he came to ask for my phone number and said someone from the club's coaching staff wanted to speak with me. At the time I thought they might just want to praise me briefly. But the person who really wanted to talk to me was Pep.

He called me and asked if I wanted to learn how to play 'real' football. I answered that of course I did. Obviously, I wanted to go to Bayern. But later I also explained to him that I wanted to play because I wanted to achieve my goals, and there was also the World Cup. Bayern had players like Robben and Ribery at the time, so I thought I might not get any playing time at all...

He told me that as long as I continued to show what I had demonstrated in those two matches, he would let me play. Of course, he could not guarantee that I would become a starter. Later under him, I started every match throughout the season and had one of the best seasons of my career. There I truly understood the winner's mentality. I learned a lot from him, and also from champions like Lahm, Neuer and Xabi Alonso. That experience was one of the happiest experiences of my career.

You worked with Guardiola every day. Is there any special story, perhaps something interesting that still makes you smile when you think about it today?

He was not the kind of coach who focused especially on dressing-room management. He had his own very clear philosophy: those who were willing to follow him played, and those who were not waited on the side. He was a football fanatic, always talking about football and always wanting to improve. From the first day to the last day, it was pure football. Of course, we also did physical training, but there was always a ball involved. He always wanted you to produce your best performance and constantly pushed you to become better.