Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay believes former Bayern Munich forward Douglas Costa will give the A-League a much-needed boost after the Brazilian scored twice and set up a third in his side’s dramatic 3-3 draw with Adelaide United on Friday.
Costa sparked a late fightback for the five-times champions at Hindmarsh Stadium, scoring his second of the game in the 89th minute before delivering the corner from which Jordan Courtney-Perkins headed in a 95th minute equaliser.
“He’s an influential player for us, but I think he’s also great for the league and the competition itself,” said Talay. “I’m sure he’ll be very pleased.
“He’s come back from injury and we’re trying to continue to build him up and we thought he did very well tonight.”
The 34-year-old Costa joined Sydney in August after spells with Bayern, where he won three Bundesliga titles, and Juventus while also representing Brazil on 31 occasions.
His 16th minute strike, which cancelled out Archie Goodwin’s fifth minute opener for hosts Adelaide, was his first goal since joining the club after his start to the campaign was affected by an ankle injury.
Costa has overcome his fitness issues to start in each of the last four A-League matches and he is setting his sights on helping Sydney turn around a run of form that has seen the club pick up one point in the last three games.
“I’m really happy to help my teammates,” he said. “I was looking for that, because I was injured five weeks ago, and now I’m back to the team and trying to help my guys. Nothing better than scoring some goals and getting some assists.
“We’ll start now (trying) to get some points, to take some points home, that’s very important. We need to keep in that shape, score goals and try to get three points.
“Day by day, month by month, we’re going to prove ourselves, and we’re going to put the best Sydney FC on the field as well.”
