Ricardo Carvalho has been answering fan questions online for British magazine FourFourTwo, discussing in fascinating detail a wide range of topics including former teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe, as well as José Mourinho and former teammate Kylian Mbappe.
Carvalho, who won 89 caps for the Seleção, is one of Portugal’s most decorated players, having won seven league titles in three different countries, as well as UEFA Cup, Champions League and various other cup competitions, as well as the European Championships with his country in France in 2016.
Much of the defender’s club career was spent under Mourinho, with the pair working together at FC Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid. Carvalho discussed his relationship with Mourinho, while offering an insight into why the current AS Roma boss was so successful in maintaining the trust of his players during the period.
“No doubt [he’s the best manager I have had] in my career,” Carvalho said. “We spent eight and a half years together and had good and bad moments. He tries to fix things in his own way, and I’m particularly grateful to him for being so straightforward – it’s easy to accept someone like this when you win, but not when you lose.
“When he spoke in our first few years, no one took it personally, thinking he wanted to put you down or humiliate you in front of the other players. We all accepted and respected him for who he was. We knew that he was being genuine and only wanted to lead us to victories. Understanding this was key for the success we had.
Pleasure to work with Mou
“I was always under the impression that he felt I could do better. I remember after a game against Panathinaikos, he came to me on the bus and said that it had been my best match. The same thing happened after the final against Celtic: “You played well and had a mature game,” he told me. It gives you a lot of confidence. He did that after we beat Manchester United 2-1 [in 2004] too, pulling me aside at training to tell me that I’d been the man of the match.
“I worked with Jose for quite some time, and fortunately it happened on several occasions. [Laughs] It was a pleasure to work with him for so long, though, because he improved my game over the years. He always wants his teams to play better than the game before. He doesn’t accept losses very well, and we knew how difficult it was for him to live with a defeat – you could see that during the week. So, we did everything we could to achieve good results, as it would be easier to deal with him! But that’s normal – we players also want to win every game. If we lose, our own routine is affected by it.”
Pepe, Ronaldo, Mbappe
Questions also focused on some of Carvalho’s most famous teammates, such as Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom he played with at club and international level. The conversation about Pepe was particularly interesting, with Carvalho discussing the different between the player and the person and what makes Pepe the performer he is.
“I think [Pepe] needs his aggressiveness to be the great player he is. Deep down, we all need this hunger he has on the field and then, whether he crosses the line or not, it’s up to everyone to judge. Off the pitch, Pepe’s a quiet guy who doesn’t talk much. On it, he transforms himself because that’s part of who he is – we’re all so focused during games that here and there we can cross the line, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you did it on purpose.
“Do people know the real Cristiano? I think people do now, yes. He’s grown a lot over the years and is much more mature. One thing hasn’t changed, though: his whole life revolves around being successful in anything he does. Cristiano is a perfectionist. He doesn’t demand anything from you that he can’t do himself. People may criticise him and disagree with him, but there’s no question that as a footballer, he’s Portugal’s biggest symbol worldwide – and by his own merit, he has been in that position for many years already.”
Towards the end of Carvalho’s career, he spent a three-year spell with Monaco in Ligue 1, which coincided with the rise of current French superstar Kylian Mbappe. Carvalho’s final season with the club saw a 16-year-old Mbappe making his first tentative steps into Leonardo Jardim’s side, and the Portuguese is happy to see the personal progress of the now Paris Saint-Germain forward.
“He’s a five-star person. The best thing about football is when you meet kids like him who become idols for a bunch of people, and then you realise that he hasn’t changed a bit from that boy you knew. This is Mbappe. It was incredible to see a talent like him emerging. We had a good relationship, and recently, when I was Marseille’s assistant coach, we played PSG in the French Super Cup. He came over to our bench to give me a hug.
“At Monaco, everything we spoke about had the sole purpose of helping him improve. When you’re starting out and have the traits he had, you can be more individualistic than you should, so it was important for him to improve his decision-making. He always wanted to do more, and felt that he could, but it’s crucial to find balance for the team. That was how he reached this level.”
Euro 2016 "spectacular"
Carvalho left Monaco at the end of the 2015-16 season, ahead of the European Championships in France. Having been part of Portugal’s losing finalists side against Greece on home soil in 2004, which Carvalho described as being worse than any club defeat, he suffered, the experience of finally lifting a major trophy for his country holds special meaning for the Amarante man.
“If I’d ended my career before that, I’d have felt like something was missing – that I should have done a bit more for my nation. Other international players may identify with this – it’s the best thing in the world to win a trophy for your people, a spectacular and strong sensation. But when you lose, it’s the worst feeling in the world – it doesn’t even compare to a club defeat. It takes much longer to heal.
“At club level, you often have another match in the same week and can quickly forget about it. When I remember 2016, I think about the huge Portuguese community that we have in France; the struggles they face, having had to emigrate in search of a better life. And yet, despite all that, they came to our training ground every day to support us. It made us feel that we could beat France in their stadium, even though they had a brilliant team. Winning the Euros in Paris was the best thing that could have happened to us.”
Read the brilliant full Q&A here: Ricardo Carvalho in FourFourTwo
By Sean Gillen
