AFTER eclipsing Rooney and Ronaldo on Wednesday night, AC Milan star Kaka’s first thought was to thank God.
In his trademark celebration, the Brazilian ace marked his goal against Manchester United by raising his arms and pointing to the sky in honour of his saviour.
The attacking midfielder believes that God saved his career in a literal sense.
In October 2000, at the age of 18, he was lucky not to be crippled when he suffered a horrific back injury after twisting his neck in a swimming pool accident.
Kaka, now 25, recalled: “I had gone to visit my grandparents in Caldas Novas in Brazil and there I slipped on a swimming pool slide, on a water-toboggan.
“When I fell into the water I hit my head on the bottom on the pool and twisted my neck, which caused a fracture on a vertebra.
“The doctors said that I was lucky even to be able to walk normally.”
It took Kaka nearly a year to recover enough to play in the first team of Brazil’s top side, Sao Paolo. He scored two goals in a cup final after coming on as a substitute with 14 minutes left to play
Kaka, though, did not believe his return to fitness was due to good luck. Instead, the devout Christian, who joined AC Milan in 2003, thought he had been spared by God.
He said: “Back at home we always thanked God because we knew that it was His hand that had saved and protected me.”
Kaka’s three wonderful goals over two legs against Manchester United in the Champions League have made him favourite to win the European Footballer of the Year award.
He is currently the top scorer in this year’s Champions League.
He was part of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning squad, was named Serie A Footballer of the Year in Italy in 2004 and won the Serie A league title with AC Milan in 2004.
The star, whose real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, was brought up by fervently Christian parents.
He was given the nickname Kaka by his younger brother Rodrigo, who could not pronounce Ricardo.
Kaka is often used in Brazil as a shortened version of Ricardo — it is not a rude word.
The star recalled: “I was born to an evangelical home. When I was baptised in 1994, something supernatural happened to me.
“I cannot explain it, but after that experience I got closer to God, more in tune with Him.”
Kaka’s devout attitude meant that he remained a virgin until he married wife Caroline Celico in December 2005.
He met her four years earlier when she was a 14-year-old school pupil but they waited until the brunette was 18 before tying the knot.
The ceremony was attended by about 600 people, including fellow Brazilian soccer stars Cafu, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.
After Wednesday night’s match, AC Milan’s billionaire owner and former Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi, described Kaka as the perfect husband.
He said: “I hugged him and then I hugged him some more. He is beautiful. He’s the husband every parent would like their daughter to have.”
Seconds later, when a clearly embarrassed Kaka was interviewed, he showed his devotion to his wife by saying: “I’d like to thank the president for his kind words and want to say how much I am in love with my wife. We love each other immensely.”
Caroline, whose mother Rosangela Lyra is director of fashion house Dior in Brazil and whose father Celso Celico is an entrepreneur, is now studying in Milan for a business degree. Soon, though, Kaka would like her to be a mum.
He said: “The best goal of my life would be to become a father and hold in my arms my first child. Certainly football is my passion and I want to do my best for Milan but if you asked me what I wanted above anything else in my private life I would have no hesitation in saying a child.
“Caroline shares this with me and we are just looking for the right moment, maybe within the next six months, certainly within a year.”
Unlike many Brazilian footballers who honed their skills in the country’s slums, Kaka was brought up in a middle-class home.
His father, Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite, is a civil engineer and he was born in the relatively prosperous capital city Brasilia.
At the age of six he moved to Sao Paolo, where he became involved with the city’s main football team.
Brother Rodrigo followed him to Milan in the search for soccer stardom but has so far failed to make a major impact.
Kaka said: “He’s only 21. He is still learning and getting better. His desire is to play with me. I hope it will be this way some day.”
The Brazilian international was a bit of a late developer himself, due to a slim frame.
He was given a special diet to beef him up and has put on two and a half stone since his professional debut at 17.
In the money-obsessed world of modern football, Kaka is a breath of fresh air. He used some of his first football wages to put his younger brother through college and he reportedly donates ten per cent of his salary to the church.
He was made the UN World Food Programme’s youngest Ambassador Against Hunger in 2004.
He said at the time: “I hope that my own experience with Sao Paulo and AC Milan can inspire hungry children to believe they can overcome the odds and lead a normal life.”
He is also part of a religious group called The Athletes Of Christ. Kaka explained: “The Athletes of Christ is a group through which the Word of God can reach out to athletes in a way that others cannot.”
This moral attitude means that you will never see Kaka lashing out or swearing like so many stars in England s Premiership.
He said: “One needs to have tranquillity, calmness.
“I will not brawl, because I am not a brawler. I am not supposed to be punching people on the field or swearing.
“I don’t want people to be saying of me, ‘Look, that guy says one thing and does another.’
“I seek to be a role model in the club. I seek to demonstrate what God has done for me and that He can do it in their lives as well.”
For many AC Milan supporters, though, it is Kaka who is God.
And Liverpool will be hoping that in the Champions League final in Athens on May 23, Kaka does not answer the Italian fans’ prayers.
* No, it was nothing to do with Maradona
