YOU ASK THE QUESTIONS
RICARDO CARVALHO
“I don’t think Rooney tried to hurt me on purpose in 2006. Once, he stopped me in a match to wish Chelsea luck against Liverpool...”
Interview Marcus Alves
It took a while for Ricardo Carvalho to break through – much longer than many would have waited.
But working in silence has always been one of his main virtues. So, when he finally got the chance he had been waiting for at Porto aged 23, following three loan spells, he couldn’t look back. He established himself in the first team under Jose Mourinho, lifting European trophies in consecutive seasons, before triumphing in a new, record-breaking revolution at Chelsea and being called the best Portuguese centre-back ever.
On the way, he became Mourinho’s most trusted central defender – signed twice by him, latterly at Real Madrid – and one who understood his firebrand boss better than anyone, having spent nearly nine silver-tinged years together in three different countries.
Curiously, Carvalho achieved it while maintaining a reputation among his peers as the worst trainer in the game. Not that such a tag has ever bothered him. When FourFourTwo queries him about it now, he simply chuckles. How could he not?
After hanging up his boots in 2017 at the age of 39, Carvalho loved football right to the very end – he was crowned a European champion for Portugal at 38, avenging the demons of Euro 2004 when Greece stunned the Selecao on home soil. Now he’s ready to answer your questions about it all...
As a youngster, you were loaned out three times by Porto. Did you worry that you’d never get an opportunity in the first team?
Lorenzo da Costa, Porto
At the start, it was tough. I’d spent six years at the academy of Amarante, my hometown – back then, they did good work and players often left for bigger sides, like Nuno Gomes. But moving to Porto was hard for me, because we’d played on dirt fields at Amarante – I’d never trained on a grass pitch. It was a lot to adapt to, but deep in my mind I knew my opportunity would come.
I was 19 when I was first loaned out to Leca, but I can’t moan – while I headed to a top-flight team, all my colleagues were sent to second-tier sides. Things went well for me there, then I returned to Porto in the same year we won the league for a fifth consecutive season [1998-99]. Porto had a very famous centre-back duo: Aloisio, who was so elegant, and Jorge Costa, our captain. For most of the campaign I stayed on the sidelines learning from the best.
However, the next season I thought I had to play in order to keep growing. I spoke to president Pinto da Costa and my coach Fernando Santos, and they both agreed. I spent two years on loan [at Vitoria de Setubal and Alverca].
Was Porto’s 4-1 triumph over Lazio in the 2003 UEFA Cup semi-finals a key turning point in your career?
Freddy Powell, Colchester
That Lazio team was really strong, and they had a very famous, fast player in Claudio Lopez. So for me to have a duel against one of the best strikers of that time, and prove I could give him a hard time, felt special. We won 4-1 and were convincing that night [in the first leg], but I’m not sure if that was the turning point for me. The same campaign, we played Panathinaikos and lost the first leg 1-0 at home. Then in the second, we beat them 2-0 and I put in a great display, stopping another quick player in Emmanuel Olisadebe. I believe that was truly the beginning for me.
What was the 2003 UEFA Cup Final against Celtic like to play in? It was entertaining for the fans, but I was broken by the end...
Stuart Digby, Glasgow
[Laughs] Oh, that was a mad game! It was insanely hot in Seville. I don’t even know how we managed to survive that heat – it required a lot of sacrifice from us. But at least we stayed ahead of the scoreline for most of the match: 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2 and finally 3-2 in extra time. It really was a thriller. Back then, the UEFA Cup felt like the Champions League for us; we didn’t know when we would be in another European final, so we wanted to make the most of it.