Diogo Costa: Casillas had felt “some chest pain” before heart attack | OneFootball

After answering the questions put to him by Iker Casillas’ lawyer, as part of the civil case involving the former Spanish goalkeeper, FC Porto and insurer Fidelidade, Diogo Costa was also questioned by the Dragons’ lawyer and by the judge herself. In response to the club’s legal representative, the Portugal international revealed that the Spaniard had previously reported some discomfort in his chest to FC Porto’s doctor.

The goalkeeper again explained that the training session in question was mainly focused “on possession”, which led him “to go to ground once or twice”, something he considered “very little”. Asked whether he remembered the day before the incident, Diogo Costa replied: “I remember speaking with the doctor [Nélson Puga] and that Iker had complained that he had already felt some pain in his chest,” he said. Later, before the judge, he clarified that this information had not been passed on to him directly by the Spaniard: “No, he never told us.” According to his testimony, it was doctor Nélson Puga who informed him of the situation, after the heart attack had already happened.

Following questions from FC Porto’s lawyer, Diogo Costa also detailed the working methods of the coaching staff then led by Sérgio Conceição, with particular emphasis on the role of the goalkeeping coach at the time, Diamantino Figueiredo: “The session starts with a light run, almost a jog. Then comes an activation warm-up behind the goal. We line up and keep rotating for around 15 minutes, doing two low dives, one at mid-height, a bit of footwork and then switching with someone else. When it’s time for dives, it’s almost one save each and then switch; when it’s footwork, it’s around 30 seconds for each player. I don’t know how long the game lasted while Iker was in goal, because it always varies. At the absolute most, 10 minutes in one drill.”

The goalkeeper added that Casillas asked for help when he was “out of the playing phase” and explained that specific goalkeeper work prioritises other aspects over high intensity: “We don’t run much, it’s more explosive leg work, but there are always intense training sessions. What is intensity? Maybe more than going down twice to the right and twice to the left and a couple more drills is double that, but always in a controlled environment because the aim is to get to the match in the best condition.”

Fidelidade’s lawyer also questioned Diogo Costa about the intensity of the training sessions, namely the average time during which the goalkeepers went over 150 beats per minute. “We have access to that data. I’d say it’s one minute, a minute and a half at most. When is it more intense? It’s around 150 or reaches 160. The work is done by zones, our high zone, zone five, around 15 seconds; in my case it’s above 179 beats, the recommended maximum zone for me. I can reveal that sometimes in matches I can get to more than 220 beats per minute,” he said.

The Portugal international also explained that the intensity of the training session was assessed at the end of each one: “From 1 to 10? I’d say it was a 3, a moderate session. In fact, we have that scale and we have to report our level of fatigue at the end of every training session.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.