Aspire in the World Fellows Book - 2023

/97 Now let’s go back to Portugal. You’re fromPortugal, you played and coached in Portugal. In Braga, you achieved something special for the fans there, winning the cup for the first time in 50 years and the Braga fans I knowsaid “Oh, I couldn’t believe he had to leave, we wanted him forever.” That’s the impact you had there. It was an amazing season. The season before, Braga was in the final of the cup and they lost the game in the last minute. In my season, we returned to the final and we won the game in the penalties against Porto, it was 50 years after they won the first cup. It was an amazing season, Braga is growing, it is growing a lot, every year they are nearer to the biggest clubs and that season was amazing that gave me the opportunity to work abroad. It was so close to your heart and that was such an achievement and I’m sure you feel it quite often, you don’t want to leave a club. But because you’re a professional, the opportunities lead you to move on and go somewhere else. But was there something about that at Braga that you thought I could do a bit more here? Not only in Braga. I think in all clubs, where I work, here at the beginning at Rome it was difficult, and Shakhtar was also difficult to leave. You build something, we create strong relations with the people that work in the clubs so that it is difficult to leave. You build something, you want to have continuity, you want to bring to the club better scenes, and I think time is very important, so I leave almost all the clubs, with a big pain in my heart, but it’s life. Are you happy in Lille right now? Is it goingwell? Do you feel you have a squad right nowthat you can really push forward? You’re in seventh now in Ligue 1, you’re in a good position. Yes, we are but it is difficult In France, we have nine, ten clubs who can achieve the European competitions. It’s our goal but it’s not easy, we’ll try. Things are easier now, but we are never happy with what we have but I love to be there, and I believe we can achieve our results and our goals this season. When I introduced you, I talked about you as being a character and I thinkwithout a doubt, onemoment that stands out, waswhen you were boss of Shakhtar and an infamous victory over Manchester City, who I think had gone unbeaten in 29 games leading up to that game and you promised that if you beat Manchester City that youwould turn up in the press conference dressed as Zorro. And you did. Yeah, but it was a simple joke. Many people think of this as a marketing strategy, but it wasn’t, and it is very easy to explain. In the press conference before the game, it was Halloween and one journalist asked me, when you were a kid, which was the mask you used to wear, and I said Zorro! Why? Because Zorro was a simple thing to do and I love horses so much, so I have always loved Zorro. When I left the press conference, my friend and director of football in Shakhtar told me, “Coach if we win tomorrow, we’ll go to the press conference with the mask also.” I saw this as a joke, I never imagined. When we won the game, at the end of the game, they came with the mask of Zorro, and I could not say no at that moment. I think in football sometimes we are too serious, it’s good to have these funny moments also to relax. We are too serious, we worry about so many things, I think sometimes it’s funny also. Yes. I cannot live in another way. I live so much, and all the time I’m saying this, but it’s the reality. I have a big passion, I live the game so much and it’s important for me to build not just the result but the attractive way to play. I think sometimes you don’t feel you have the freedom to have some fun andwe often say that some of the characters have left the game, but they’re still here. One sitting right next tome now. That’s important to you and that’s important theway your teams play aswell. Being able to let themexpress themselves? STAR CHAT