“I wouldn’t want to train one like me”

«I came to Leixoes to play and things did not go very well. There were major financial problems and I decided to go out in the winter market. I was thinking of retiring, but the sports director of Vila Real contacted me, who was my first coach. He offered me to finish my degree there and I accepted. It is the club where I had started, in the town where my father was born. At the end of the season, our coach left and I was offered the job. I thought it was nice that my first experience on the bench was also there ». This is how the former sportsman crossed Luis Carlos Correia Pinto (Porto, 1985) the line that separates the pitch from the technical area. As a prize, a promotion to the fourth category of Portuguese football.

“It didn’t start badly.

-No. It has been a beautiful experience. I’ve been lucky enough to lead a very good group, with some players I already knew from having shared a dressing room.

—How is life on the pitch for Luisinho coach?

“Things are different. I try to maintain the intensity that I had on the field and transmit it to the squad; insist that they work hard. It’s complicated, because they’re not professional footballers, but I think it’s worked and it’s one of the keys to what we’ve achieved.

—Her temper played tricks on her before she hung up her boots. Have you been expelled this year?

-I have to admit it. Yes. At first he still lived soccer as if he were a player; sometimes it happened to me. It was hard for me to understand that he had already crossed the other side of the line, but I ended up assimilating it and now I have control.

—How many reds have you seen?

-Just two. But when they took the first one out of me, the president came to talk to me; he was worried that it would become a regular. We made a bet and you owe me dinner.

“What cousin did you get for the promotion?”

-None. The players, yes, because here they charge little. But I came to stay linked to football in a place where I felt comfortable; The truth is that at the moment money is still the least of it.

-Are you going to continue in the position this season?

-I’m thinking about it. They are more than two hours of travel, between the round trip, every day. Also, I want to spend more time with my son, now that he is starting to play seriously.

—But, do you want to continue training?

—Well, since I started… As a player I was very heavy, I wouldn’t want to coach someone like me, but the experience as a coach has been very positive, very rich. And besides, I got the goal the first time. Not bad.

—Do you regret anything about your time as a footballer?

“Now I realize many things. I was not an easy player. Many times I was selfish, I didn’t put myself in the coach’s shoes. And he had to think of 25. Now it’s my turn to do it and luckily I haven’t experienced any unpleasant situations. The group has made it very easy for me.

—Write down those mistakes as a footballer. Outside the field, it seemed another. With a strangely ordered life for his profession.

—I had my first child at 23. My wife, Paula, was 21. That gave me a responsibility and made me look for a type of life that perhaps other colleagues did not need. From less to more in many ways, because the beginning was not easy. Now I am very happy with what I have. Some told me that I was missing out on enjoying life, but I made the most of it; with one, with two and with three children. Also, I was lucky that they signed me in A Coruña, the perfect place.

“You mentioned earlier that your son is beginning to play seriously. She went through the Dépor quarry. Where is Luisinho Junior now?

—Luis junior is no longer junior. It already happened to me. He has grown… he has now signed for Braga for four seasons. Two training and two as a professional.

—Here it was lateral. What remains? Does she look like his father?

—It is finer; not as intense as his father. He plays behind the striker, out of 10. And he has a goal. He made 20 this season and was even in a concentration of the Portuguese team in his category.

—Do you recognize yourself in it in its beginnings?

-He has character. Not as much as me, but because I had more. He doesn’t like to lose, he’s very competitive, but he knows how to digest things much better than I knew, he always played with his heart in his mouth.

“Would you rather he did something else?”

-No. Hopefully I can follow my steps and go much further. We have been lucky enough to share a gift and I would be delighted if it takes you far.

-And you? Where would I be if it weren’t for football?

— I didn’t want to be anything other than a footballer. And even if I wanted to, I don’t know how to do anything else. In the rest I was always a disaster. Soccer is the only thing I was good at.