João Noronha Lopes, candidate for president of Benfica, and Nuno Gomes, former club player and candidate for vice-president for football on the Noronha Lopes list, traveled to Manchester, in September, to watch Manchester City-Manchester United on matchday 4 of the Premier League. Two months later, the former Portuguese international explained the reason for the trip and revealed that he had dinner with Hugo Viana… and Ruben Amorim.
«I’m friends with Ruben Amorim and Hugo Viana. We took advantage of that game and the fact that we were going to meet with Pedro Ferreira, to meet people from Manchester City and Manchester United, to understand how those clubs work. I had dinner with Hugo Viana and Ruben Amorim, just the three of us”, he began by saying, in an interview with Now, then saying that, although there was no formal invitation for Amorim to return to Clube da Luz, at that time, he believes that the coach’s future will, inevitably, pass through the Eagles.
«I am convinced that Ruben Amorim will one day be Benfica’s coach. It wasn’t earlier because, after some meetings, Amorim decided not to accept those conditions, at the time he was at Casa Pia. I was the one who suggested his name at that moment”, he said, remembering when Amorim refused to coach Benfica’s B team.
«Ruben Amorim is a person with very strong convictions. We know how he communicates, works and prepares his teams. When he was at Sporting, we all realized that Amorim is stubborn. At the end of last season, I was in a different situation than I am now at United. It may have crossed his mind, I don’t know, to get out of a project that was difficult to bring to fruition. You may have gone through phases where you were more discouraged and had thoughts of slamming the door and leaving. How, suddenly, you wake up with the confidence that you will make the team play well”, he concluded.
