Maniche, formerly of Portugal and Chelsea, picks the best team he ever played with
(Image credit: Getty)
Maniche played for some of the biggest sides in the world in his career – but is perhaps best remembered in England for a loan. The Portuguese came to Chelsea on a short-term deal that saw him reunite with Jose Mourinho after the pair had worked together at Benfica and Porto.
The midfielder went on to play for the likes of Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid in his time as a player, too – so he must have played with some phenomenal talents, right?
FourFourTwo sat down with him to ask what a team of his best ever team-mates would look like.
(Image credit: Future)
Maniche's Perfect XI – Goalkeeper: Vitor Baia
“He had an imposing presence and was a big character in Porto’s squad. You could see that some of the players who arrived were afraid of speaking to him. Once you gained his trust, however, everything changed. He constantly fooled around in our shooting practices.”
Right-back: Paulo Ferreira
“Sometimes I wondered if we could finish an entire season without hearing Paulo’s voice. He was a quiet and understated man off the pitch. On it, he was an incredible right-back.”
Centre-back: John Terry
“I got on really well with him at Chelsea, and we developed a fierce rivalry during rondos! Maybe because I was so comfortable on the ball, he always tried to get me in the middle, hitting strong passes and hoping I wouldn’t be able to control them. It was fun.”
Centre-back: Ricardo Carvalho
“He was pretty sleepy during practices – even Jose Mourinho admitted that he was more of a match player. One time at Porto, Deco and I decided to play a joke on him by not picking him for our training game. Jose walked over and asked, ‘What about Ricardo?’ We replied that we didn’t want him on our team! But what a centre-back.”
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Left-back: Javier Zanetti
“Along with Esteban Cambiasso, he was in charge of the barbecues we sometimes had at Inter’s training ground. On the pitch, Javier was so impressive: very disciplined and extremely professional. It’s no surprise that he carried on playing into his 40s. Despite being a grill master, he didn’t eat much – sticking with salad and avoiding alcohol.”
Central midfield: Frank Lampard
“Frank set an example for the rest of the team. Even though it was only training, it was amazing to see how hard he worked. He was committed and never afraid of speaking out when things weren’t going well.”
Central midfield: Claude Makelele
“The Chelsea joker – Claude loved having fun and making everyone laugh. He and William Gallas often came after my Dolce & Gabbana shoes. They would hide them and then leave a picture of them in my locker.”
Central midfield: Deco
“If there’s someone in football who I consider a brother, it’s Deco. We were team-mates for Alverca, Porto and Portugal and went through so many things together, but we were always there for each other.”
Right-wing: Luis Figo
“Figo was among the first players to welcome me when I joined the national team. He had a strong personality, rarely joked around and just spoke to those he was close to – it’s part of his character. He had a winning mentality and determination to reach the top.”
Centre-forward: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
“Inter might not have won Serie A in 2007/08 if it wasn’t for Zlatan. We needed to beat Parma in the final game; he came off the bench and unsurprisingly scored two goals. When we got back in the dressing room, he said we could thank him for sealing another title and then offered a Rolex watch to everyone he liked. People have no idea how he is off the pitch – he has a good heart.”
Left-wing: Cristiano Ronaldo
“He was only 18 when he made his Portugal debut. At the start he spent loads of time with me and Deco, playing cards and having a laugh. No matter how late it was, Cristiano would try to recover his money if he was losing – he hasn’t changed in that sense! Despite his age, he was regularly one of the last guys to leave training.”
The manager: Jose Mourinho
“We didn’t exactly start off great! At Benfica, he made me run laps in training, then dropped me. He said, ‘In 40 minutes, you managed two laps – you’re in very bad shape’. Everyone laughed.”
Marcus Alves is a freelance journalist based in Lisbon and has written for FourFourTwo since 2012. He can also be found at BBC Sport, the Telegraph, Kicker and Yahoo. A former ESPN reporter, he covered 12 games in 15 days during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but can barely remember any of them. He blames cachaça for that.
