Earlier in the week, Kaka announced that, with his Orlando City contract now expired, he is now officially retiring from football.
It was reported that two of his former clubs, AC Milan and Sao Paulo, offered short-term deals to the 35-year-old but, after consulting with his friend ‘upstairs’, the former World Cup winner decided to knock it all on the head.
Father,
It was much more than I could ever imagined. Thank you! I’m now ready for the next journey. In Jesus name. Amem.Pai,
Foi muito mais do que eu pedi ou imaginei!Obrigado! Eis-me aqui para próxima jornada. Em nome de Jesus. Amém. pic.twitter.com/PofZBAV0BE— Kaka (@KAKA) December 17, 2017
Kaka suffered a fairly abrupt decline in his later career though, in contrast to some of his Brazilian contemporaries, it was largely due to cumulative injuries rather than cumulative carnivales.
It’s easy to forget that, between roughly 2004 and 2012-ish, Kaka was one of the best, most elegant players on the planet. Indeed, he is the last man named anything other than Cristiano or Lionel to win a Ballon d’Or.
It was during his first stint at Milan where he hit his true pomp, gliding through defences, injecting instant impetus to attacks, faithfully churning out opportunities for Andriy Shevchenko and Pippo Inzaghi and scoring oodles of beautiful goals.
But don’t just take our word for it – here’s 10 minutes of unrelenting Kak-attack for y’all to bask in…
Thanks Jesus, for letting us have him for a bit.