Who is better, Zhirkov or Costa?
Diego da Silva Costa leads with a GOAT score of 82.8 against 82.7 for Yuri Zhirkov — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Zhirkov vs Costa
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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
CostaWinner
82.8Costa wins: Peak, Honours, Statistics
Zhirkov
82.7Zhirkov wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to FootballShareable URL · /compare/yuri-zhirkov-vs-diego-costa
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇪🇸 Diego da Silva Costa
82.8
Costa leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Diego da Silva Costa
2. Yuri Zhirkov
Category breakdown
Season form · Goals per season
Career timeline · Goals per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Goals per season
1. 🇷🇺 Yuri Zhirkov32 goals
4 seasons by age 21 · 8 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
2. 🇪🇸 Diego da Silva Costa16 goals
3 seasons by age 21 · 5.3 per season
Costa is -50.0% behind Zhirkov's pace at age 21
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | ZhirkovRetired | CostaRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Russia caps | 105 | — |
| UEFA Cup titles | 1 | — |
| Premier League titles | 1 | 2 |
| Russian Premier League titles | 5 | — |
| Russian Cup titles | 6 | — |
| Career league goals | — | 161 |
| Spain caps | — | 24 |
| La Liga titles | — | 2 |
| UEFA Europa League titles | — | 1 |
| Dominance w25% | 80 | 80 |
| Peak w20% | 85 | 88 |
| Longevity w20% | 88 | 78 |
| Honours w20% | 82 | 85 |
| Statistics w15% | 78 | 84 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Costa82.8
Zhirkov82.7
FAQ
Where does Zhirkov beat Costa?
Zhirkov scores higher on longevity. Costa leads on peak, honours, statistics.
How is the Zhirkov vs Costa score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Zhirkov: 82.7, Costa: 82.8.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Zhirkov vs Costa. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.