KAKA EXCLUSIVE: Oscar and Mesut Ozil tell me I should come to the Premier League but I'm so happy in Orlando... and I still want to play for Brazil at the 2018 World Cup 

• Kaka is loving his time in Major League Soccer with Orlando City FC
• The Brazilian is a hero in the US after spells with AC Milan and Real Madrid
• He is a devout Christian and has been asked for prayers by team-mates
• Kaka broke his back when he was 18, leaving him fearing for his career
• The 32-year-old believes Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi
• He still hopes to represent his country at the 2018 World Cup in Russia 

By Sam Cunningham for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:30 EST, 23 March 2015 | Updated: 04:50 EST, 24 March 2015

Kaka takes his mind back to the days before he lived up the road from Mickey Mouse.

To when he was one of the original world superstars, the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi of his day. To 2007, when he was deemed the best player on the planet, receiving twice as many votes as those two young pretenders to become the Ballon d'Or winner and FIFA World Player of the Year.

In the seven years since then, Ronaldo and Messi have fought for the crown between them, but 2007 was Kaka's year; single-handedly obliterating Manchester United over two legs in the Champions League semi-final at AC Milan on his way to winning it and ending the tournament as top-scorer.

Kaka drives forward during Orlando City's 1-0 win against Houston Dynamo in Texas earlier this month

Sportsmail's Sam Cunningham chats with Kaka at the Alfond Hotel in the Winter Park area of Orlando

Kaka celebrates after scoring Orlando City's first ever Major League Soccer goal against New York City FC

Orlando fans celebrate after Kaka scores the first goal in the club's history against New York City FC

The Brazilian's huge grin is on full display as he shows off the Ballon d'O trophy in Paris, France, in 2007

Today he is the star of Orlando City, playing out the final days of a distinguished career on the doorstep of Disney World in the glorious Sunshine State where we meet. But first we are discussing the £56million transfer to Real Madrid in 2009 - a fee then putting him behind only Zinedine Zidane as the world's most expensive player - where he would win La Liga and the Copa del Rey under Jose Mourinho.

'His ambition for victory sets Mourinho apart,' Kaka says of the Chelsea manager. 'He wants to win every game, so he prepares all the smallest details; in training, at the game, everything. I loved to work with him.

'He tries everything to extract the best from the players, to push them. This is what he can do better than anyone else.'

Many consider Kaka, whose real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite but developed the nickname when his younger brother Digao could not pronounce 'Ricardo' growing up, did not live up to his astronomical fee during a four-year spell in Spain. 

He has admitted that he lacked consistent playing time under Mourinho for the majority of his time there, despite their success together. Yet Kaka's capacity to forgive, to forgo blame and bitterness, shines through repeatedly over the course of this interview.

Kaka, pictured with Jose Mourinho in 2011, believes the Chelsea boss's ambition for victory sets him apart

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Matias Laba (right) challenges Kaka for the ball at the Orlando Citrus Bowl

Kaka says he is loving his time in Orlando and is not thinking about joining a Premier League club

Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets and Kaka tussle for the ball in a 2011 Champions League semi-final

Kaka celebrates scoring against Lazio in March 2014 during his second spell with Serie A side AC Milan

'I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to work with Mourinho, he is one of the best coaches in the world,' he says.

That humbleness is, perhaps, down to his deeply religious upbringing. An iconic image remains from when Kaka finally won the Champions League for the first time. AC Milan beat Liverpool to avenge their astonishing final victory two years previously, a memory he merely laughs at, and he had a message to purvey.

At the final whistle - after having a hand in both their goals - Kaka fell to his knees and stripped off his jersey to reveal underneath a vest with 'I belong to Jesus' written on it, held his hands out wide, palms facing up, closed his eyes and raised his head to the heavens.

The world's eyes were upon a man transcending to the very top of his sport. Sitting in the luxurious Alfond hotel, in the upmarket Winter Park area of Orlando where we meet, he explains his statement.

'I grew up with the bible education and my values come from there. I had an opportunity to say to the world I belong to Jesus and I wanted to do that.

'Often players at clubs I have been at have asked me for prayers or advice. I prefer to show them things, rather than to say things; with my actions, not my words. I don't want to push it on anyone, it's not to push.'

Kaka is excited to have Lampard and Gerrard join the MLS

Kaka famously celebrated AC Milan's Champions League triumph in 2007 with a 'I belong to Jesus' vest

Sportsmail's Sam Cunningham poses with former Real Madrid superstar Kaka in Orlando, Florida

Massimo Oddo (right) and Kaka hold the Champions League trophy after beating Liverpool in Athens

Kaka receives the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year award from Brazil legend Pele at a gala in Zurich 

Kaka was immersed in the Christian faith long before a miracle occurred in his life; involved in a frightening accident, aged 18, which broke his back and could have put paid to any football career.

He was playing by a poolside when he slipped on a diving board and cracked his spine. 'I broke my sixth vertebrae,' he recalls, a grimace momentarily replacing the broad grin which is almost permanently etched on his face, running his left hand along the bone which fractured.

'I went to the doctor and he said I was lucky because they had a lot of these problems here and everyone that has suffered them can't even walk.

'My first question was can I play football again? They said "no you need to just be happy you can walk, in a few months we will see what you can do."'

Two months later he was kicking a ball. 'It was a tough period, I was so scared,' he adds. 'I thought maybe I won't play again.'

It could have meant he never got to appear on a pitch alongside both Ronaldos; the Brazilian one for the national team in the early stages of his career and the Portuguese megastar at Real Madrid towards the latter.

Kaka was the world's second-most expensive player for less than 48 hours before Cristiano Ronaldo followed him to Real for a then-world record £80m.

Kaka applauds Real Madrid fans at his official presentation at the Bernabeu in June, 2009

Kaka scores a solo goal for AC Milan against Manchester United in the Champions League in 2007

Kaka is a cult hero among Orlando City's supporters following his spells with AC Milan and Real Madrid

Kaka celebrates a goal after returning to his boyhood club Sao Paulo on loan from Orlando City last year

The pair remain in touch and, again, there is no resentment that Ronaldo eclipsed their time together. Quite the opposite, in fact; Kaka is delighted he was usurped by Ronaldo in 2008 as the world's best. 

'I won the Ballon d'Or and World Player of Year against Cristiano and Messi,' he adds. 'They win it every year now, but I could beat them back then. For me that's important because I had the best opponents. I'm proud when I see that.'

Kaka considers Ronaldo to be a more complete player than rival Messi. He feels he played some part in his former team-mate's development into the three-time Ballon d'Or winner and that they helped improve each other's game.

'I definitely think so,' he says. 'It was great having him as a team-mate. I learnt a lot of things from him, every day I stuck with him and saw how he trained, how he played. It helped me a lot.

'We had a great relationship off the pitch in Spain. We still have a very good one. I'm so happy that he could win the Ballon d'Or at Real Madrid. He really deserved that. He is a special player.'

Two years Ronaldo's senior, Kaka has come to America. Not merely to pick up a vast pay cheque and enjoy the searing temperature. It was two years ago, he says, that he told Orlando City owner Flavio Augusto da Silva, a Brazilian businessman, he wanted to play in the MLS, in search of new achievements and experiences.

One of those was completed when he scored the first ever goal for Orlando City in their MLS debut against fellow newcomers New York City this month.

Kaka remains in regular contact with Premier League stars including Mesut Ozil, Willian and Oscar

Kaka scores his first goal for Orlando (left) and runs off to celebrate at the Citrus Bowl (right)

Kaka greets one of Orlando's fans after securing a dramatic draw with New York City in their opening game

Sportsmail's Big Match Stats: Orlando 1-1 New York City FC

In front of a frenetic 63,000-strong crowd at the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium he celebrated like he had won a World Cup final after netting an equaliser in stoppage time.

Kaka is the league's biggest star now, Orlando's captain and the city adores him. He wants to use his position to keep his place back in Brazil's squad and insists he could have one more World Cup in him when Russia 2018 comes around.

'It is in three-and-a-half years and if Dunga needs me I'll be ready to play in the national team,' he declares. 'It is a real motivation for me.'

Kaka would dearly have loved to have played in the Premier League but, aged 32 and with a three-year contract at Orlando City, that opportunity is passing him by. He had his chance in 2009, offered to join Manchester City and Carlo Ancelotti discussed a move when he took over at Chelsea, but he regrets none of his choices. He follows the league closely, keeping regular contact with his friends Oscar, Filipe Luis and Willian at Chelsea and Mesut Ozil at Arsenal.

'They joke with me saying, "Come and play for Chelsea or Arsenal" but I am so happy here in Orlando.'

Kaka knows what football means in England. He relishes that he scored what he considers the best goal of his career at Old Trafford in that 2007 Champions League semi-final first leg, beating Darren Fletcher, Gabriel Heinze and Patrice Evra in one of the many graceful, slaloming runs of his career and finishing past Edwin van der Sar.

Kaka understands that Ronaldinho dashed a nation's dreams when he looped a freakish 35-yard free kick over David Seaman to knock England out of the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals, which he maintains to this day was a cross and which would result in him lifting football's greatest prize.

He appreciates what it meant to Liverpool to come back from a 3-0 half-time deficit and beat Kaka's Milan on penalties to win the Champions League in 2005. 'It's still one of the best finals ever,' he insists, 'even if I was on the losing side.'

Those moments - and the many more of his career - belong in the annals of history, just as much as Kaka belongs to Jesus.

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