Santos At age six, Diego started to show his talent when training with Comercial FC in
Ribeirão Preto. After joining another team, São Carlos, when he was nine, Diego decided to take trials in the hope of impressing a bigger club. Diego was first signed by the São Paulo team
Santos at the age of 12. He developed while in the Santos youth system, making his first team debut at the age of 16 in the
Rio-São Paulo Championship in 2002 and in the same year won the domestic
Campeonato Brasileiro championship. He,
Robinho,
Elano and
Alex were known as a famous group when they played for Santos.
Porto Diego was then signed by
Primeira Liga club
Porto in July 2004 as a replacement and the potential successor for
Deco, but he could not produce the same calibre of performances as he did at Santos. Diego made his debut for Porto in a 1–1 draw against
União de Leiria on 22 August and on 30 October, he scored his first goal for Porto in a 2–2 draw against
Nacional. As Porto triumphed in the
Intercontinental Cup against
Once Caldas via a
penalty shootout, Diego was sent off for swearing at goalkeeper
Juan Carlos Henao after scoring his effort. Journalist
Tim Vickery ascribed this action to Diego's experiences against the team in the previous season's
Copa Libertadores, in which the physical Colombian side eliminated Santos in the quarter-finals. In his first season at Porto, Diego made 30 appearances, scoring two goals against
Sporting CP and
Braga. In
2005–06, however, he did not maintain a stable place in the Porto team under coach
Co Adriaanse and also found life difficult at Porto. He eventually left the club to sign with
Werder Bremen.
Werder Bremen 2006–07 season in 2006 In May 2006, Diego signed a contract with German
Bundesliga side Werder Bremen until 2010 for a transfer fee of €6 million. As the Bundesliga season progressed, Diego made several amazing performances and became one of the most valuable players for Bremen, along with his teammate
Torsten Frings. Together, they were called the "two motors of Bremen's midfield". In October 2006, he won a second Player of the Month award, as well as again in December 2006. He was then named as the Best Player of the first half of the Bundesliga season. Werder Bremen finished in third place in Group A in the
Champions League group stages, and they moved to the
UEFA Cup, where they reached the semi-finals after beating
AZ in the quarter-finals due in part to Diego's creative play. On 15 April, Diego again played well, scoring in the 2–0 win over
Borussia Dortmund. Five days later, on 20 April, Bremen played against
Alemannia Aachen. Although Diego's performance was good, he did not score until stoppage time when he scored from 62.5 metres, which later was elected as goal of the year. Bremen won the game 3–1 and topped the table with 60 points. Following his good performances in the first half of the Bundesliga, Diego got called up to the
Brazil national team in November. After the 2006–07 season ended, Diego won the Bundesliga Player of the Season award organised by popular magazine
kicker. He received just over 50 percent of the votes. Unfortunately, his team did not win the Bundesliga after finishing third in the table, behind champions
VfB Stuttgart and
Schalke 04.
2007–08 season Diego started his season well, scoring a penalty on the first matchday. Diego gave many outstanding performances. He was crucial as Bremen progressed to the
2007–08 Champions League group stage. They beat Croatian club
Dinamo Zagreb 3–2 in
Zagreb, with Diego scoring two penalties. On the first Champions League group stage matchday, Bremen lost 2–1 to
Real Madrid, but Diego's performance aroused interest in Real Madrid's coach
Bernd Schuster. Rumours of his departure, however, were put to an end when Diego signed a new contract which would last until 2011. After the loss to Real Madrid, Bremen faced VfB Stuttgart, the defending German champions, at home. Werder won 4–1, with Diego leading the midfield. Later on in the season, Bremen achieved a historical 8–1 win over
Arminia Bielefeld, with Diego assisting three goals and scoring one himself. Diego was voted Player of the Month in September. He then scored two goals en route to the
UEFA Cup round of 16 with Bremen, where they lost to
Rangers.
2008–09 season title alongside teammate
Naldo Diego's last season with Bremen was his most successful. He scored 20 goals in total (more than his two first seasons in the club), although Bremen did finish just tenth in the
2008–09 Bundesliga and were knocked out of the
Champions League at the
group stage after finishing third in their group. In the
UEFA Cup that season, Diego scored six goals, all in the knockout stages. He also scored against
Milan in the round of 32, equalizing after 84 minutes, and assisting
Claudio Pizarro in the second leg's only goal. He helped his team through the round of 16, and scored four of the six goals, and managed one assist in the quarter-final knockout of
Udinese. In the semi-finals, after losing 1–0 in their hometown to "North Derby" rivals
Hamburger SV, Diego helped his team back in the second leg with an early equalizer to
Ivica Olić's early critical goal. Later on that game, he assisted a corner to
Frank Baumann's third Bremen goal. In that game, Diego received an unfortunate yellow card, preventing him from playing in the final, and with a 3–2 away win, he ended his UEFA Cup participation, leading Bremen to their first UEFA Cup final ever. Without Diego in the
2009 UEFA Cup Final, Bremen lost the game 2–1 in extra time to Ukrainian team
Shakhtar Donetsk. In his last match with Bremen, Diego gave the assist to
Mesut Özil's winning goal against
Bayer Leverkusen in the
DFB-Pokal final to secure Bremen's sixth title in the competition.
Juventus in 2009 On 26 May 2009, Diego signed a five-year contract to join
Juventus of
Serie A at the end of the season 2008–09 season. The fee paid to Bremen by Juventus was worth €24.5 million, though the price can rise by a further €2.5 million in case of the fulfillment of established sports objectives in the next five years. Diego made his Juventus debut against the Korean side
Seongnam, a game they won 3–0. In the first half, Diego made the pass to
Mauro Camoranesi, whose pass followed up to a goal. Diego then scored in the second half and was subbed out at the 60th minute. On his Serie A debut, he assisted
Vincenzo Iaquinta's goal from a set-piece. In the second fixture of the campaign, Diego recorded his first Serie A goal, scoring twice in Juventus' 3–1 victory against
Roma on 30 August 2009. He also scored goals against
Bologna,
Fiorentina and
Napoli. One of his most noted assists was his backheel to
Alessandro Del Piero's goal against
Genoa. He has also scored in the
2010 TIM Trophy against Milan. Diego's swaggering displays he produced during his time in Bremen were met with anger and confusion from Juventus fans; the formation did not suit him and he had a fall-out with then coach
Ciro Ferrara. Juventus announced Diego would leave Juventus despite pleading to stay at the club. German clubs like
VfL Wolfsburg,
Bayern Munich and his former club Werder Bremen were linked to sign him; however, Bremen ruled out signing him due to sporting director Klaus Allofs believing a deal to bring him back to Bremen would be "economically impossible", and Diego reiterated his desire to stay.
VfL Wolfsburg Eventually, on 27 August 2010, Diego moved from Juventus to
VfL Wolfsburg for a club record transfer fee of €15.5 million, of which Juve would only receive €14.75 million as 5% of the transfer fee transferred to his youth clubs as
solidarity contribution. Following his move to Wolfsburg, Diego criticized Juventus general director
Giuseppe Marotta for his exit and is the blame for letting Juventus make huge losses on some high-profile players. In Diego's first match for Wolfsburg, he scored his debut goal in a game which Wolfsburg lost 3–4 to
Mainz 05. On 5 February 2011, he won a penalty for Wolfsburg; he subsequently took the ball from designated spot-kick taker
Patrick Helmes, then hit the woodwork ten minutes from time. Wolfsburg later lost the match by one goal, prompting Wolfsburg manager
Steve McClaren to fine him €100,000 (£86,000) for failing to follow instructions. Diego was defended by
Dieter Hoeneß, claiming that Diego does not believe he should be banned for the incident. Nonetheless, Diego was also informed that he would be removed from the first team for Wolfsburg's upcoming game against
Hamburger SV. On 14 May, before a crucial relegation game against
1899 Hoffenheim, Diego once again got in trouble with the management of Wolfsburg,when he left the hotel in which the team was staying when he was informed he would not be starting the game. This left Wolfsburg with only six players on the bench for the game that would determine whether they would play another season in the Bundesliga or be relegated. Wolfsburg went on to win the game 3–1 without Diego, ensuring another top flight season for the club, though Diego was fined €500,000 for his actions.
Loan to Atlético Madrid After the
2010–11 season at Wolfsburg, new manager
Felix Magath told Diego in May he had no future with the club. On the last day of the transfer season, Diego joined
Atlético Madrid in
La Liga on a season-long loan. On 10 September 2011, he made his debut for Atlético against
Valencia. He scored his first goal for Atlético in the 60th minute of a
UEFA Europa League game against
Celtic to make it 2–0 and made an assist to
Radamel Falcao in the third minute. The match finished in a 2–0 win for Atlético. Diego scored his first league goal in a 3–2 win over
Levante on 20 November 2011. As a key player for Atlético, Diego provided assists and established himself in the first team. But on 19 February 2012, against
Sporting de Gijón, Diego sustained a hamstring injury in the second half. It was announced that Diego would be out for a month. After a month out, Diego recovered from his injury and made his return to training. Diego made his return against
Real Zaragoza on 26 March 2012. On 9 May 2012, Diego scored the third goal on Atlético's win over
Athletic Bilbao in the
Europa League Final, assuring the capital side won the title for the second time in three years. After the match, Diego told
UEFA's official website, "We played against a tough rival like Athletic, but we played an almost perfect match, it was a difficult match, we never said it was going to be easy. I have to thank God for this [victory]." Atlético teammate
Juanfran revealed that Diego wanted to stay at Madrid rather than go back to Germany, but confessed that it would be tough for the club to buy him outright. Diego admitted that his time with Atlético has been "magical", stating that his time in Spain was more than what he could have hoped for: "This season was positive on both an individual and collective level and I'm delighted." and made a farewell message to the club's fans, telling them about the club will be part of his life. Seven months on, Diego revealed he was unaware over a permanent move to Atlético, as the move never transpired.
Return to VfL Wolfsburg Diego returned to VfL Wolfsburg following the end of his loan spell in Madrid. Upon his return, his relationship with manager Felix Magath continued to deteriorate: he was placed in the reserve side after Magath criticised his attitude on his first training session back. Despite the strained relationship between the two, he was selected by Magath in a series of pre-season friendlies in a tour of China. Although he was told by Magath he has no future in Wolfsburg, Diego nonetheless announced that he would stay at the club, as clubs overseas had no apparent interest in signing him. Diego played his first game for the club in a 1–0 victory over VfB Stuttgart in the opening game of the
2012–13 Bundesliga. In the club's first game without Magath, who had been sacked with only five points in eight matches (and no goals and points in the last four games), Diego scored his first goal and provided his first assist of the Bundesliga season in Wolfsburg's 4–1 defeat of
Fortuna Düsseldorf on 27 October 2012, which ended a run of four-straight defeats. Following the match, Diego stated that the club are enjoying their football again and he had given a chance under new interim manager
Lorenz-Günther Köstner. Four days later, in the
DFB-Pokal, Diego opened the scoring before providing an assist for
Bas Dost as Wolfsburg defeated
FSV Frankfurt 2–0. He then netted a brace in Wolfsburg's 3–1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on 11 November, bringing to an end Bayer's 11-game unbeaten run and giving Wolfsburg their first home win of the Bundesliga campaign. Then, on 8 December 2012, Diego scored and set up the second and third goal in match in a 3–2 win over Borussia Dortmund. Throughout the 2012–13 season, Diego continued to make an impressive display for the club, scoring 10 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions, making him the club's top-scorer. Before and during the
2013–14 Bundesliga season, Diego was linked with a move back to Santos in Brazil, as well as with English
Premier League side
Arsenal. Despite the rumours, Diego stayed with Wolfsburg for the first half of the season, scoring 3 times in 15 appearances. Throughout the first half of the season, however, Diego's future at Wolfsburg was uncertain after he disagreed with sporting director
Klaus Allofs. At this time, Diego earned the highest wages at the club. The club was keen to extend Diego's contract.
Atlético Madrid On 31 January 2014, Diego moved back from Wolfsburg to Atlético Madrid. He signed a contract for the rest of the
2013–14 season. Prior the move, Diego desired to leave Wolfsburg in order to play in the Champions League. Diego debuted on 2 February on Atlético's victory 4–0 against
Real Sociedad, scoring the match's fourth and final goal. On 1 April, Diego scored from a long-range shot against
Barcelona in the Champions League, as Atlético reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1974. Atlético would reach the final of the Champions League for the second time since 1974, after beating
Chelsea 3–1 to face their rivals Real Madrid in their first ever
Madrid derby in the Champions League final. Diego was an unused substitute in the final as Atlético Madrid lost 4–1. Nevertheless, Diego helped the club win the La Liga championship to earn his team its first league title in 18 years. After being linked a move away, Diego wrote on his
Instagram account, giving the Atlético supporters a farewell message, as he left the club for the second time.
Fenerbahçe in 2014 Upon his contract with Wolfsburg expiring at the end of the 2013–14 season, Diego was linked with a move to both Arsenal and Turkish
Süper Lig side
Fenerbahçe, and on 11 July 2014, Fenerbahçe confirmed a three-year deal after a medical. The next day, Diego was presented with the number 10 shirt. Diego made his Fenerbahçe debut in the opening game of the season, coming on as a substitute for
Emmanuel Emenike in the 62nd minute, in a 3–2 win over
Karabükspor. Diego continued to be in the first team by the first half of the season until he suffered a partial muscle tear during a 1–1 draw against
Bursaspor on 24 November 2014. After being on the sidelines for three weeks, Diego made his first team return against
Altınordu in the Groupstage of Turkish Cup, which he scored in a 1–1 draw on 23 December 2014. On 24 January 2015, Diego played a vital role when he provided two assist for
Dirk Kuyt and
Caner Erkin in a 3–0 win over
Kasımpaşa on 24 January 2015. Diego's second goal then came four months later on 3 April 2015 in the quarter-final of
Turkish Cup in a 2–1 win over
Mersin İdmanyurdu. Soon after, Diego soon made complaint, claiming he had not been paid by the club. Diego scored his first league goal for the club in a 4–3 win over
Balıkesirspor on 2 May 2015 after making his first team from the previous game as a substitute. This was followed up his second league goal seven days later, in a 3–2 win over
Sivasspor. Diego's third goal later came in a 2–2 draw against
İstanbul Başakşehir. In his first season at Fenerbahçe, Diego made 30 appearances and scored five goals in all competitions.
Flamengo After various failed attempts to sign Diego in previous years,
Flamengo was finally able to hire the player for three years on 19 July 2016. The player, who had already expressed a wish of playing for a Brazilian club chose Flamengo over other rival clubs. The great moment lived by
Rubro-Negro, in the
Brazilian Série A, according to Diego, resulted from "complicity and generosity." Diego made an instant impact in Flamengo and quickly became the team's most important midfielder. He debuted on 21 August 2016 in a
Brazilian Série A match against
Grêmio scoring the winning goal with a header. He went on to score another goal in the next match, this time in a 3–1 win over
Chapecoense on 28 August 2016. In the
2019 Copa Libertadores Final on 23 November 2019, Diego came off the bench and helped set up both of
Gabriel Barbosa's goals as Flamengo came back from a goal down to defeat
River Plate 2–1. Diego captained the side in the first leg of the
2020 Recopa Sudamericana on 19 February 2020. The match ended in a 2–2 draw with
Copa Sudamericana winners
Independiente del Valle of
Ecuador. Flamengo won the second leg 3–0 to secure a 5–2 aggregate victory and claim their first Recopa Sudamericana title. On 26 August 2020, Diego signed a one-year extension with Flamengo.
Retirement On 12 November 2022, he ended his career at the age of 37. ==International career==