Diego Costa rolled back the years with a 25-yard stunner in a chaotic charity match alongside a host of footballing legends such as Thierry Henry, Eden Hazard, Franck Ribery and Gerard Pique.
Costa, 37, has yet to formally officially announce his retirement – despite being without a club since 2024 – and showed he still has plenty to offer as he opened the scoring in the star-studded Match for Hope.
The former Spain international started the match with Hazard playing off his left, providing Chelsea fans with a nostalgic throwback to the pair’s fruitful partnership at Stamford Bridge between 2014-2017.
They were joined by Real Madrid legend Marcelo and a host of influencers lining up at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar for Arsene Wenger’s ‘Team Chunkz’, including I’m A Celebrity winner AngryGinge.
Their opponents ‘Team Aboflah’ – managed by Roberto Di Matteo – on the other hand, were spearheaded by Arsenal legend Henry, with Tim Cahill and Ribery playing as attacking midfielders and Barcelona icon Pique at centre-back.
The light-hearted charity match not only provided its viewers with a glut of goals, but with hilarity too as social media star Bilal Fadili launched a wrestling move on KSI.
Diego Costa scored a 25-yard stunner during the charity game Match for Hope in Qatar
KSI was at the centre of hilarity in the game when he was wrestled by influencer Bilal Fadili
Fadili jumped on the British rapper before sending him flying with a WWE-style twisted move
The rapper and Britain’s Got Talent judge had just knocked the ball beyond Fadili when the influencer jumped on him, hoisted himself up onto his shoulders and sent him flying with a twist reminiscent of WWE’s Rey Mysterio.
The referee, however, decided to play on and the ball fell into the hands of Costa just moments later, whose long-range shot took YouTuber David Vujanic by surprise and hit the back of the net.
Led by Henry, Team Aboflah began pushing for an equaliser and Henry looked as dangerous as ever as he darted into the box before being slide tackled by Instagram influencer Marlon.
But just minutes later, Henry would have his revenge as he clipped a free-kick over the wall for former Millwall and Everton star Cahill to nod home.
In the topsy-turvy affair, Team Chunkz quickly soared into a 4-1 lead through goals by American YouTuber Mark Rober, Hazard and social media content creator Eman SV2.
However, Ribery – who had dived in a failed attempt to win a penalty just minutes before – set one up for his side and scored another to make the score 4-3, before Henry’s assist for YouTuber Taiyo levelled the scoring.
Arsenal icon Arsene Wenger wore a big smile as his side ‘Team Chunkz’ took the lead in the tie
Chunkz, the media personality whose friends include David Beckham and Maya Jama, then scored a fifth to put ‘Team Chunkz’ 5-4 up at half-time.
And the madness continued into the second half as four goals were scored in 16 minutes, including a second from Costa and a penalty scored by MrBeast.
The YouTube sensation even offered the goalkeeper a briefcase full of money so that he would not save his spot-kick and, while it looked like the stopper was considering rejecting his advances, the referee blew the whistle and the MrBeast slotted it home anyway.
Hazard and Marcelo linked up to put Team Chunkz 8-6 ahead and despite their opponents pulling one back through Channel 4 host Harry Pinero’s rebound, the former Real Madrid stars left victorious.
It is the third charity match of its kind after the first instalment in 2024, and the initiatives are believed to have raised more than £15million for disadvantaged children across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The Chainsmokers and the Jonas Brothers performed pre-match and at half-time.
