Real Madrid

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, known in the football world as Kaka, was born on 22 April 1982 in Brasila. His father is an engineer and his mother a teacher, a situation that allowed him to grow up in a middle-class atmosphere. He moved to Sao Paulo when he was four years old and began playing football in that city. AS journalist Julio Maldonado gives us a glimpse of the life of Kaka in a series of articles.

Kaka’s star was on the rise when his dream of becoming a world-class player was nearly shattered. The Brazilian suffered a nasty blow to the head after sliding down a water slide into a pool. He received four stitches and all appeared normal, until two days later when during a training session he felt very dizzy. Sao Paulo’s medical staff discovered a fractured vertebra which could have left him paralyzed, but Kaka would miraculously be okay.

His religious convictions and generosity increased drastically from that moment on. Kaka frequently invited teammates, including former Madridista Julio Baptista, over for lunch. Let us return to his belief in God. The Brazilian wears a bracelet with “Jesus” written on it, his boots have the words “God is Faithful” stitched into them and one of his jackets has “I belong to Jesus” stitched into it. “Everyone receives a gift from God, and mine is football,” stated the main subject of this article.

A magical performance against Santos had made him the talk of the town, but his major coming out party was the final of the Torneo Rio-Sao Paulo against Botafogo. He came on in the second half and turned the score around when all seemed lost for his team. He finished the season as an unquestionable star with twelve goals to his name in his first year as a professional. Kaka had earned everyone’s respect on a team that included Belletti, Maldonado, Baptista and Luis Fabiano.

Kaka made his Brazilian national team debut against Bolivia, but he was on the verge of stardom when he was called up for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea. He was 20 years old and only played for a few minutes against Costa Rica in the group stage, but the moment that Ronaldo –who called him Kakito- handed him the World Cup to raise will never be forgotten.

Several European clubs expressed interest in him and finally Milan captured the prize. Ex Brazilian national team coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira said, “Someone with his talent and characteristics appears once every fifty years. He will soon be a role model for every Brazilian who is called up by the national team.” He wasn’t wrong.