'Joining Bayern has changed my life'

When Douglas Costa joined FC Bayern from Shakhtar Donetsk last summer he had to content himself with a standby role in the Brazil squad. Now the 25-year-old is a standout performer, making the Seleçao starting line-up for four of the five World Cup qualifiers. In the Bundesliga Costa boasts the most assists of any Bayern player, setting up nine goals. “Joining FC Bayern has changed my life,” the Brazilian commented.
In his first few months in Munich things went perfectly, Costa told FCB.tv. “I'm very happy, I've acclimatised to the club and the city very quickly. The most important thing was that all my colleagues helped me.” But why are the man and the club a perfect match? “I think my qualities fit the club's style of play very well,” declared Costa.
He had entertained the thought of playing for the Bavarians for a long time: “In my view Bayern have always been among the best clubs in Europe!” The German record champions are very popular in Brazil: “Many people in Brazil, very many indeed, watch Bayern games. Everyone knows the club and the players.”

fcbayern.de has compiled the most interesting stats regarding Costa:

• In 32 competitive fixtures for Bayern Costa has been involved in 17 goals, scoring five, assisting 12. Only Lewandowski (39) and Müller (38) boast more for Bayern this season.
• Costa has set up the most Bundesliga goals for Bayern this season, nine in only 21 matches. Only Gladbach's Raffael and Dortmund's Henrikh Mkhitaryan have assisted more goals: ten in 27 and 26 matches respectively.
• A Bayern player has never provided so many goals in his first Bundesliga season since the data have been collected.
• Costa boasts 168 dribbles and 80 successful dribbles, two best-marks in this season's Bundesliga campaign. On average Costa prevails in 47.6 percent of his dribbles.