Costa says he and his Chelsea team-mates and staff have a 'great bond'

The 26-year-old likes the physical side of football and 'will not change'

Costa addresses his ban for an alleged stamp on Emre Can: 'I can sleep knowing I’ve not done anything wrong, because I never meant to do that'

Costa was not signed up by a professional club until he was 15 and even then it was in the fourth division of a regional Brazilian league

Diego Costa has given his first English newspaper interview and the striker opens up about his journey from the streets of Brazil

Diego Costa is laughing at memories. He is discussing his childhood in northern Brazil, in the small provincial town of Lagarto. For his first ever English newspaper interview, he is charm personified: open, engaging and enthusiastic to talk, even when the conversation turns to Tuesday night and his stamp on Emre Can.

For now though we are on safer ground: a happy childhood, endless matches of street football and an upbringing which, it is hard to avoid concluding, has moulded the footballer and the man.

Jose Mourinho once described Lagarto as so remote that it was ‘beyond the sunset’. It stands at a crossroads of routes to even smaller towns, 180 miles north of Salvador. Still, it is Brazil, so football was the currency of the street and it was there that Costa, almost unwittingly, learned his trade.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa has held his first interview in England exclusively with Sportsmail

Costa has gone from playing on the backstreets of Brazil to become the heart and soul of Chelsea

Costa learned his physical and tough style in football on the backstreets of Brazil as a child with his friends

‘In Brazil, if you have a son, the first thing you give him is a football,’ he says. ‘That’s the first gift, so my dad was no different. I grew up playing football on the streets with my friends and that’s why I was brought up the way I was. That’s the school I had — the street football.

‘Those football games were always in the afternoon and, as a kid, you always had the strength and energy to play for a long time, until you were very tired. Usually the games did last all afternoon and I became used to playing with guys who were older than me, so it was not only about playing football but also about being street-smart.

‘You had to not only be able to do all the tricks but be able to shield the ball, use your body. You had to know how to be able to play on the streets because they were different. We had our own rules over there and that’s the way it was in order to survive. What mattered was scoring goals and winning.’

It is an education far removed from the pristine football academies of western Europe. Costa was not even signed up by a professional club until he was 15 and even then it was in the fourth division of a regional Brazilian league. His was no gilded youth, though equally it was not an upbringing without discipline: his mother saw to that.

‘In order to be able to play football I had to behave, because every time my mum asked for something, I had to do it — then she would agree that I would be able to go and play football which is what I liked,’ he says. ‘So I had to get good grades in school, behave and do everything my mum wanted in order to be able to be free and play football.’

It was, however, tough. ‘I only played with players my age when I played on a school team or with a club when we played tournaments against other cities and stuff like that. But I was always a bit bigger than the rest of the kids so I have always enjoyed playing against older guys on the streets — two, three years older than me — because it was a better game for me. It was better to learn, to become better as well. It was a quicker game and I have always been strong.’

Costa enjoyed playing against the older kids on the block to see if he could match them physically

Costa has revealed his upbringing where his mother made him do good in school and behave to play football

Costa is now among the most prolific strikers in the Premier League after joining Chelsea last summer

The laughter comes when he is asked how the games ended. ‘Most games ended up all right — but some of them didn’t! The worst thing was when I played against my brother, Jair. We could not play against each other because we always had a beef with each other. So we had to play on the same team.’

What you get with Costa is the raw, original South American footballer: no veneer and no gloss.

So to Tuesday night, a compelling semi-final against Liverpool and a clash with Can, when Costa pushed his foot down on the Liverpool player’s shin, a stamp which earned him a three-match ban and meant he missed out on Saturday night’s top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City.

He is speaking with us just a few minutes after the ban has been confirmed and he is keen to address the matter.

Costa (right) sits next to Cesc Fabregas at Stamford Bridge after being banned for three matches

Costa sits behind Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Saturday for the game against Manchester City

I’m not saying I’m an angel — I’m no angel. You can see that. But every time I play I will play the same way because that’s the way I am Chelsea's Diego Costa

‘As far as what happened on Tuesday, the main thing is when I get home and I can sleep knowing I’ve not done anything wrong, because I never meant to do that and it was not on purpose,’ he says.

‘And you can clearly see that on the video. But it is a suspension. I have to accept that, I have to take it. Obviously I feel sad because I’m not going to be able to play or to help the team. But I have to accept and respect it.

‘I’m not saying I’m an angel — I’m no angel. You can see that. But every time I play I will play the same way because that’s the way I am. That’s what I need to do in order to support my family. That’s my bread and butter; also that’s what I need to do for this club, for the fans and for all the people involved in this club.

‘On the pitch I will always be like that. That’s my character and I will always compete. I’m a different guy off the pitch — as you can see — but on it I will not change. And I want to say this again: you can look at the video and interpret it how you want but I know I can sleep in peace because I know I didn’t mean to do it.’

Chelsea striker Costa (right) moves towards the ball after Emre Can takes a tumble off the pitch

Costa was judged to have stamped on Can's right leg during a feisty Capital One Cup semi-final second leg

Mourinho watches on as his striker runs for the ball with Can on the floor in the first half at Stamford Bridge

Costa has been slapped with a three-match ban for violent conduct after the incident against Liverpool

But does he consider himself a violent player?

‘You have to see how many times have I injured someone,’ he says. ‘Never. I’ve never inured another colleague, another player on purpose. Yes I’ve had loads of incidents — maybe even more in Spain. But that’s the way I play.’

And he is adamant that, despite all that has happened, he will retain the same edge to his game. ‘I’m not going to change the way I play because I got banned for a few games now. I’m always loyal, I always go 100 per cent, I always go on the limit but the people who think I am a violent player, it’s because they interpret football a different way.

‘Back in the old days there used to be way more contact and a lot of things permitted that, these days, everyone is looking at — and I don’t think that is good for the game. I have a go at defenders and they have a go at me, we argue and whatever happens on the pitch stays on the pitch.

'After the game I shake hands with the defender. Job done, I go home, he goes home. We’re all mates. It’s all good. That’s how I see football. That’s how I play football. I’m not going to change it — football is a contact sport.’

Costa says 'football is a contact sport' and the Chelsea striker will not change his style of play on the pitch

Costa and Liverpool's Martin Skrtel got physical during their Capital One Cup semi-final second leg

Costa says he gets physical with defenders during the match but shakes hands with his markers afterwards

Costa enjoys the physical side of playing football as much as any other player in the Premier League

In many ways Costa is a throwback. You can almost envisage him relishing a game against Norman Hunter or Tommy Smith. No surprise then that he enjoys English football.

‘I really, really like it because it’s very competitive, it’s very physical. Here, playing as a striker, you get kicked way more than, for example, Spanish football and referees don’t call fouls — not only for me but all strikers in the league.

'On the pitch I transform myself. I really, really want to win. I want to be competitive, I want to run all over. I can accept defeat but I love to win and be competitive. It is my job. I train all week just to play for 90 minutes. I love playing games and so, during those 90 minutes, it’s always 100 per cent.’

It is difficult to overstate quite what a rarity Costa is in the modern game. It is unusual for a player to be overlooked by the age of 12 these days. By 15, it is almost impossible to have been missed but Costa, at that age, had given up football, moved to Sao Paolo and was working in his uncle’s shop.

Costa says on the pitch he transforms himself and that he gives his all when playing for Chelsea

Costa is living the dream at Chelsea as he always wanted to be a footballer since playing in Brazil as a kid

Thibaut Courtois (from left to right), Eden Hazard, Oscar, Costa and Branislav Ivanovic celebrate their win

‘I’ve always loved playing football and, when I was a little kid, I had dreams. But I was never obsessed with it. I never wanted to be a professional footballer.

'Yes I loved the game, I loved playing. But you have to understand that, where I come from is such a small, tiny town that there were not many opportunities.

‘There are great players there but people do not see them because they do not have the opportunities. So I left my home town when I was 15 and went to Sao Paolo and went to work for my uncle at his store — and I did not want to play football any more. I wanted to earn my own money, support myself and not depend on my parents.

‘But my uncle was also very passionate about football. He never played professionally but he was a great player and, at the store, a lot of people used to come by, like agents and people involved in the football environment.

Costa has gone from the backstreets of Brazil to training in the finest facilities with Chelsea

Costa has scored 17 goals this season but missed out on adding to that tally against champions City

'And he would say: “I’ve got a nephew, he’s a great player, you have to see him”. So I ended up going to a team in Sao Paolo for some trials and I passed, I made the team and that is where it all started.’

That team was Barcelona. Not the Catalan super club but Barcelona Esportivo Capela, who played in the fourth division of the Sao Paolo regional league. It was professional in that he was earning £100 a month.

But it was not a standard of football far removed from his street days. ‘There was not a big difference with that side,’ he said. ‘But I had my professional licence as a player.’

Still, the idea of ever playing in Europe, World Cups, in the Champions League, was frankly ludicrous at that stage and had not even entered his head. ‘I swear, no,’ he said. ‘Obviously when you are just 15 you don’t care that much about money, you just want to play for the love of the game. I am where I am today for the love of the game.’

Costa scores from the penalty spot during Atletico Madrid's Champions League semi-final against Chelsea

Costa has been a tough striker for defenders to deal with throughout his career and it's the same at Chelsea

Costa started his professional career in the fourth division of the Sao Paolo regional league before moving on

I’ve always liked to joke with every club I’ve been in, with all my team-mates because it’s where we work and we spend a lot of time together, more time than even with your family - Costa

His enthusiasm for life and for football is impossible to deny. Costa has only been at Chelsea six months but he is already one of the dominant personalities. Mourinho says that, even though his English in very limited, he seems to understand everything and have a capacity to make the entire team laugh.

‘I’ve always been that way, that’s the way I am,’ he says. ‘I don’t do things for people to think I am funny, that’s really the way I am.

'It comes naturally. I’ve always liked to joke with every club I’ve been in, with all my team-mates because it’s where we work and we spend a lot of time together, more time than even with your family.

'So I do like to joke around — but I’m not the only one. There’s a few jokers in the dressing room. Didier Drogba is a big one and Eden Hazard as well.’

Club physios appear to bear the brunt of Costa’s pranks, one of their number having recently had his hotel room ransacked by Costa’s crew, which includes Willian, Ramires and Filipe Luis.

Costa is keen to point out it was only in revenge for a joke the physio and Mourinho played on him. ‘I couldn’t do anything to get back at Mourinho because he’s the manager, so I took it out on the physio.’

Costa has gelled well with his new team-mates at Stamford Bridge and has a joke with the players and staff

Costa likes to joke with his team-mates as he and the other Chelsea players spend so much time together

The more serious point is that this Chelsea team appears to have a unity which all great teams possess and Costa is an essential part of that. ‘You can have the best players in the world together but if there is no bond, if there’s no group, you cannot achieve anything.

'A great example of that is what happened at Atletico Madrid last season. We had a group which was brilliant. We were all mates for real, on and off the pitch. We solved all our problems within the dressing room.

‘Nothing ever went out into the press. We all fought for each other and for the club, we all defended each other as mates and that’s why we achieved what we did. Here, it is very similar. We have a great bond.

'There are great players like Didier Drogba. I don’t have to say what he was or what he is. I’m playing now in his place but he would never be moody or anything like that; same with Ramires. We all go in the same direction. And that’s the only way in order to succeed.

Costa runs off as he is substituted for fellow Chelsea striker and legend Didier Drogba at Stamford Bridge

Costa is playing in Drogba's place but says the Chelsea striker 'would never be moody or anything like that'

Costa says Chelsea have a competitive squad but that they're all fighting for each other to win trophies

‘We have young players here. It’s a very competitive squad. Everyone wants to play, everyone goes hard and that keeps it better for all of us. We have people like John Terry, who has been great — not only with me but with all the new guys. And that sense of unity, that’s how you win things.’

As he talks, he spots his manager through the glass door of the room we are in.

Mourinho stands outside for a while, observing his striker in his best interview mode.

Amused, Mourinho cannot resist the chance to intervene. In he strides and points at Costa, gently mocking the idea of his tough centre forward being some kind of cover star. ‘This guy, with this beautiful face, sells millions!’ says Mourinho.

But then Costa is not a footballer for the image rights generation; he feels like a player from an entirely different age. And you imagine Mourinho likes him just the way he is.