28/12/06 Chelsea coach José Mourinho comments on the long Christmas break in Portugal: "Empty stadiums and salaries late ... and we professionals stop for
a month!?" 24/12/06 (Front page headline of A Bola ahead of Benfica's game with Belenenses, coached by … Jorge Jesus): "Be careful of Jesus at Christmas."
23/12/06 José Cachide, vice president of Beira-Mar, on plans to move the club back to its old Mário Duarte stadium
from the luxurious but expensive to run Municipal Stadium: "I'd prefer to have a Fiat 600 that goes to a Ferrari that's run out of petrol." 14/12/06
Sporting defender Marco Caneira, critical of playing conditions at Alvalade: "We're going to write a letter to Santa for a decent pitch." 10/11/06 Luíz Felipe
Scolari explains (...) his choices for Portugal's game against Kazakhstan: "They're options that I make according to my ideas, which only I know and I don't need to disclose." 24/10/06
Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira lays into the referee of the previous Sunday's game against Estrela da Amadora. Carlos Xistra showed 18 cards, three of them red, one of the reds going to Miccoli ahead of the trip
to FC Porto: "A hymn to stupidity!" 21/10/06 Gil Vicente president António Fiuza: "The FPF has done us a favour by banning us from the Taça
[de Portugal] - in recent years we've only ever lost money from the competition." 24/09/06 Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira looks in his crystal ball: "Benfica will be a
colossus in Europe, if not the world, by 2011." 21/08/06 Austria Vienna coach Frenkie Schinkels ahead of their Champions League qualifier with Benfica: "No one in
Austria expects us to knock Benfica out ... not even my wife."
[Benfica won 3-0 on the night, 4-1 on aggregate] 18/07/06 Beira-Mar's new signing Mário Jardel,
offered a seafood supper by a local restaurant for every goal he scores: "They're going to lose money." 16/07/06 Chelsea coach José Mourinho, asked to comment on
whether Cristiano Ronaldo should stay at his current club: "Well, if he wants to win a championship, he should leave Manchester United ... ha ha … no, just kidding!" 05/07/06 Luíz Felipe
Scolari looks for reasons why Portugal went out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage: "Portugal is an ugly duckling in the world of football." 03/07/06
Cristiano Ronaldo tries to pour oil on troubled waters after Portugal v England: "Rooney even congratulated me on our going through." 02/07/06 Ricardo, asked who he wanted to dedicate the
three penalty saves to that put England out of the World Cup: "To my wife, my daughter ... and God." 18/06/06 Luís Figo, hopeful of a long stay in Germany: "I came
here with a large suitcase." 16/06/06 TV presenter Merche Romero on her boyfriend Cristiano Ronaldo: "He's a force of nature."
. 12/06/06 Luíz Felipe Scolari after victory over Angola in Portugal's World Cup opener: "One down, six to go." 10/06/06
European Union President Durão Barroso sets the pole high for Portugal: "The sky's the limit." 07/06/06
Midifelder Hugo Viana, desperate to play in Germany: "I'll even play in goal – I just want to be out there." 05/06/06 Luíz Felipe Scolari gets all misty eyed over his team: "The
players have got so much love to give." 04/06/06 Portugal's top scorer Pedro
Pauleta reacts ironically to the observation that he doesn't score in Finals: "I've got 46 goals
and they were all scored in kickabouts." 01/06/06
Benfica midfielder Beto defends himself against the critics: "Not even Jesus was liked by everyone." 28/05/06 Luís Figo thinking wishfully: "God willing, in 40 years I can look
back and see myself lifting the Cup." 15/05/06 FC Porto's Ricardo Quaresma, passed over for Germany: "I expected to be called up, but that's ok - nobody's died" 07/05/06
Belenenses goalkeeper Marco Aurélio on the trip back to Lisbon from the north, where his team lost to Gil Vicente and were relegated: "It was the longest journey of my life." 28/04/06 Scolari backs out of the England deal:."I won't be the England manager."
14/04/06 Standard Liège captain Sérgio Conceição on reaction in Belgium and Portugal to the recent incident with a referee that saw him banned for four and a half months:
"They made me out to be a terrorist!" 28/03/06 Inter Milan's Portuguese international Luís Figo sets his sights high: "For me, only winning the World Cup will be a success." 23/03/06
Sporting coach Paulo Bento, critical of the refereeing in the Taça game against FC Porto, including the sending-off of Caneira: "If at least it had stayed at 11 against 12, we might have won. With 10 against
12 it got more complicated." 22/03/06 Luíz Felipe Scolari, Brazilian coach of the Portuguese National Team: "I feel more Portuguese than Brazilian." 19/03/06
Rio Ave 'keeper Mora after Benfica beat his team in controversial fashion: "I feel like I've had my house burgled and my car stolen." 16/03/06 Boavista coach Carlos Brito, unhappy at a recent spate of
penalties given against his side for dubious handballs: "It would be better to sign players with no arms." . 08/03/06 Benfica coach Ronald Koeman after his team unexpectedly knocked Liverpool
out of the Champions League: "Everything's possible in life." 28/02/06 A contradictory (?) Luíz Felipe Scolari on the possibility of Quaresma and Hugo Viana going to Germany:
"All the players know that they have to apply themselves to go to the World Cup. If some of them suffer a slight drop in form, that won't influence anything because I've been working with some of them for a long time."
. 26/02/06 The ever-optimistic Penafiel 'keeper Nuno Santos. Penafiel have 11 points from 24 games and are 15 points from safety: "We can make a small miracle happen." 22/02/06
National team coach Luíz Felipe Scolari on the FC Porto winger, widely regarded as currently the best player in Portugal: "Quaresma has been playing reasonably well." 21/02/06 Unloved Benfica
midfielder Beto, whistled off the pitch when substituted in the Champions League game against Liverpool at the Luz: "B*ll*cks to the fans that whistle me." 18/02/06
A pragmatic Petit after his side go down 0-2 at Vitória de Guimarães: "Playing like that, Benfica won't get to be Champions." 16/02/06 Dynamo Moscow's Danny in support of teammate Costinha, in
dispute with the club over the cleaning of his own boots: "Can you imagine Zidane cleaning his own boots at Real Madrid?" 15/02/06 Referee Paulo Paraty on Marítimo's Dutch
captain Mitchell Van der Gaag, sent off for protests in the game against Vitória de Guimarães: "The red card I showed him will never be shown in any game ever again - he came and apologised, and so I autographed the
card and gave it to him." 06/02/06 Nacional president Rui Alves, allegedly threatened by Sporting's Ricardo Sá Pinto after
Saturday's game: "Only the intervention of some Nacional players prevented him repeating what he did a few years ago to a National Team coach." [Sá Pinto famously duffed up national coach Artur Jorge before an
international because he hadn't been selected] 31/01/06 Sporting goalkeeper Ricardo explains why he has the shape of a dog's paw shaved into his hair: "Everyone knows I love dogs. And
dobermans have been the victims of great injustices in the past ... I think I owed them this tribute." 25/01/06 On his 64th birthday, Eusébio remembers his four goals in Portugal's classic 5-3 victory
over North Korea in 1966: "On that day, I was anywhere but on Earth." 23/01/06 An optimistic Luíz Felipe Scolari speaking from Brazil: "We have a team that can get to the Final [of the World Cup]
." 16/01/06 Académica 'keeper Pedro Roma, critical of the match officials after the 3-0 defeat at Benfica: "We had to face two teams today." 12/01/06
Benfica coach Ronald Koeman cuts training short after Anderson kicks Miccoli: "OK - everybody on the bus!" 05/01/06 Gabonese striker Antchouet signs for Vitória de Guimarães: "I can't promise
goals."
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