National coach talks about the tribute and legacy of the former Portuguese international and about Gonçalo Inácio and António Silva
Roberto Martínez, national coach, speaking to journalists after Portugal-Croatia (2-1) at Estádio da Luz:
[Valores do Pepe. Que legado deixa no dia em que foi homenageado?]
“It was an honour to work with Pepe in his fifth European Championship. He left behind team values. I will talk about resilience, example, defensive intensity, giving everything until the end and camaraderie. The values we showed in the last 20 minutes were Pepe’s values. We want to make him proud because the tribute to Pepe was special and I think he is very proud of what we did in the last 20 minutes and the quality we showed during the game.”
[Optou por Gonçalo Inácio de início com Rúben Dias. A escolha teve a ver com o adversário ou o jogador do Sporting parte na frente para ser o substituto de Pepe?]
“All players have an end, but the important thing is to leave a legacy. And not all players can leave a legacy like Pepe’s. Gonçalo Inácio and António Silva are better players today because they shared a dressing room in the European Championship.
Gonçalo was important in the first half for what he did with the ball. Having a left foot gives us better balance, but in the last 20 minutes we needed more energy defensively. António did that very well. They are both important.
Rúben Dias has a leadership role and is very important to us. We believe in António and Gonçalo. It would also be great to see Renato [Veiga] on the pitch. We have a lot of players to look forward to in the future.”
