Serie A Heroes: Kaká, The Last Romantic at San Siro | OneFootball

“As a child, all I ever wanted was to become a São Paulo player and to play just one match for the Brazilian national team. But as we read in the Bible, God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” – Kaká

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite.

Doesn’t really ring a bell, does it?

But if I say Kaká? That sounds different.

Kaká was born in 1982 in Brazil. Unlike many of his countrymen who became global superstars, he did not grow up in poverty. His father was an engineer, his family was well-off, and he was given everything he needed.

A few years after little Ricardo was born, the family moved to São Paulo, where he and his younger brother Rodrigo  who struggled to pronounce his brother’s name and simply called him Kaká, quickly made friends. They spent entire days playing football in the streets alongside kids who came from more modest backgrounds.

His childhood was carefree. He developed steadily, both on and off the pitch.

Until he turned eighteen.

“I was playing in São Paulo’s youth team. I picked up a yellow card in one match, which meant I couldn’t play the next one. My brother and my parents thought we should use the free weekend to visit our grandparents in Caldas Novas. We went to a water park and were having a great time until, coming down one of the slides, I hit my head on the bottom of the pool. I heard a crack in my neck. When I got out, I had an incredible headache, and I was bleeding. My brother convinced me to see a doctor. I was immediately sent to the hospital for X-rays, and they found nothing wrong. I went home and carried on with my life, but at the next training session I told them I couldn’t practice properly because of unbearable pain. A second X-ray showed that my sixth vertebra was fractured. They said I was extremely lucky not to be paralyzed –  in a worse case, I might not even have been able to walk. I don’t think it was luck. God saved me. He had another purpose for my life.” –  Kaká

After the accident, faith became central to his life. When he scored, he didn’t dance. He pointed to the sky. After winning trophies, he didn’t run around in wild celebration. He prayed. Under his shirt, there was always the iconic “I BELONG TO JESUS” message.

While recovering, he made a list for himself.

One of the goals on that list was to earn a contract in Europe.

In 2003, Milan made that dream a reality.

“He looked like an Erasmus exchange student. Neatly combed hair, glasses, an innocent face,  the only things missing were a few textbooks and a lunchbox. But on the pitch, he transformed completely. He became a monster. The way he handled the ball left me speechless. In one of his first sessions, Gennaro Gattuso tried to tackle him brutally, but he kept the ball as if nothing had happened and moved on. Thirty meters from goal, Alessandro Nesta tried to stop him,  he brushed him aside too. I think that was the moment the team accepted him. We took off his glasses, gave him a shirt, and let him become what he was born to be. An instinctive genius.” – Carlo Ancelotti

He was young. Brilliant. Famous. A Milan player. And, not to mention, handsome.

Sound familiar?

It’s no coincidence.

Football history is full of geniuses who received too much, too quickly. And eventually disappeared.

But Kaká was not one of them.

When he arrived, he joined names like Rui Costa, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf. Many believed the Brazilian boy would learn from the bench.

But Kaká didn’t come to learn.

He came to teach.

His game was not built on flashy Brazilian tricks. When he surged through midfield, he was like an express train that simply could not be stopped. He glided with the ball as if hovering a meter above the grass. His face remained expressionless even in the toughest moments. He didn’t just fit in, he became the engine of the team.

He was heading toward paradise. But arrived in hell.

In 2005.

In Istanbul.

In the Champions League final, Milan led Liverpool 3-0 after 45 minutes. At San Siro, they were already preparing a place for the trophy.

Too early.

In the end, the English side celebrated, while Ancelotti’s men fell into the abyss.

That was Milan’s fate.

It had to burn to ashes.

So it could rise again.

With a new leader. Kaká.

“Kaká is the only player in the world I would pay to watch. What he did on the pitch was stunning. Incredible technique, speed, vision and passing ability. As a midfielder, you’re lucky if you have three of those qualities.” –  Frank Lampard

If you say Kaká, you say 2007.

The last year when football did not belong to two players.

But to one.

If there has ever been a perfect year in football history, that was the Brazilian’s. Throughout the entire season he shone, solving the most difficult situations as if he were playing against schoolchildren. With his elegant, refined movements, the elite simply had no answer for him.

And if there was ever a perfect match for a footballer, it came for Kaká in that year in the Champions League semi-final.

At the Theatre of Dreams.

Kaká’s theatre.

In the first leg in England, Milan lost 3-2 to Manchester United, but at the final whistle no one, and I mean no one was talking about the result. They were talking about what this young man had done.

One moment from that match was carved into football history in giant letters. Kaká read the game as if he knew what was about to happen.

From a long clearance by Dida, the ball sailed over Darren Fletcher. With a delicate touch of his head, Kaká guided it forward. When Gabriel Heinze tried desperately to intervene, the Brazilian simply flicked it over him.

And it still wasn’t over.

Patrice Evra rushed to help his teammate, but Kaká headed the ball straight between the two defenders.

AND BOOM!

The two United players collided with each other. They probably still feel that clash to this day.

And Kaká? With angelic calm, he rolled the ball into the net.

That was the moment of glorification.

The final was the arrival in paradise.

Milan took revenge on Liverpool and lifted the Champions League trophy.

At the end of the year, there was no doubt who deserved the Ballon d’Or.

It was the last year,  and he was the last player to win it before the Lionel Messi – Cristiano Ronaldo era began.

In 2009, Real Madrid elected a new president, Florentino Pérez, who once again wanted to build a Galáctico team. The first and most important targets were Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo. Milan were struggling financially, and Kaká had no real choice but to leave.

His time in Madrid was largely defined by battles with injuries.

But whenever he stepped onto the pitch, the brilliance was still there.

That innocence.

That instinctive ease.

The qualities that ensure we will always remember him as the last player who was natural,  and remained natural.