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Ricardo: “I made right decision in leaving Sporting”

Portugal no. 1 admits to feeling nostalgic but happy in Spain

Real Betis goalkeeper Ricardo believes he made the correct decision to leave Portugal for a new adventure in La Liga last summer, while offering his thoughts on former club Sporting’s season.

Portugal’s number one brought and end to four seasons at Alvalade when he left Sporting for Seville and Betis last July, signing a four-year contract after the clubs agreed a 3m euro fee for the former Boavista man.

“I had the chance to renew with Sporting and practically finish my career in Portugal, or go abroad,” recalls the 31-year-old. “During my four years there I always had chances to leave, but for different reasons, personal and others, it didn’t’ happen.

“I always had a little nag that one should experience another culture and another championship, and I wanted to play in the Spanish or the English league. I had the choice between the two and I made the decision to come here. I am happy with my decision to come to Betis. I am still fully convinced that it was best for me.”

“Sporting season can still be success”

Despite leaving his homeland for the first time in his career, Ricardo still keeps a keen eye on the Portuguese league and is optimistic that Paulo Bento’s Sporting can still have a successful end to the season, following their weekend defeat to Vitoria Setubal in the Carlsberg Cup.

“Unfortunately for Sporting things have not gone well in the championship. They have done well in the Uefa Cup and I believe they can still achieve their targets because it’s a young team with great quality. And there’s still the Portuguese Cup, after the league cup had the undesired result.”

“But it’s clear that in the league they wanted things to go better. The fact is FC Porto are so strong, they built up a big advantage and the margin of error for the other teams was slim. When you’ve got a good amount of points you can be more relaxed because mistakes will happen, but the margin is very big. You cannot make mistakes when you are that far behind.

“Sporting’s fight is now for second place. We know how competitive the championship is and how things change from one hour to the next. If they (Sporting) win and the others loose, they’re just one point away.”

Nostalgia

Finally, Ricardo admits that he sometimes finds it difficult to watch Sporting play without him between the posts. “It’s the same sensation I had when I left Boavista, where by the way, I was longer than I was at Sporting - double the amount of time.

“At times I feel nostalgic, because there are friends, colleagues and people I like a lot. To see the team without me was hard at first. It is strange to see Sporting play without Ricardo, but I’ll get used to it.”