“Jesus? I think it's a perfect marriage. It’s good for Portuguese football”

“ ANDi think it's a perfect marriage. It is good for Portuguese football to have a coach like Jorge Jesus, who is super demanding, knows Portuguese football well, knows these players well. It will give a character to the selection, I think different from what we have seen in recent years ", said Boto, in statements to journalists on the margins of Portugal Football Summit.

In Oeiras, in Football City, the leader, who has already passed the Ukrainians of Shakhtar Donetsk, the Greeks of PAOK and the Croats of Osijek, admitted that the succession to Spanish Roberto Martínez is a recognition for the technician, 72 years old.

“It’s a career prize he had, someone who comes from below, who trained the lower divisions and who arrives at this stage of his career and is a fair prize for his career,” he acknowledged.

Boto, 60 years old, recalled that Jesus began a trend in Brazil, with the arrival of Flamengo in 2019, leading the Rio club to the title of national champion and victory in the Libertadores Cup.

“ I think, like everything else, there are fashions! Jesus' success opened the Brazilian market for Portuguese coaches. Then, Portuguese coaches, as they have quite quality, were cementing this position in Brazilian football. But I think that Portuguese players could also start looking at the market there because they actually pay wages that are not paid in Portugal”, he said.

In Brasileirão, Flamengo, under the command of also Portuguese Leonardo Jardim, who succeeded Filipe Luís, who also won the Brazilian and South American titles, leads, with 60 points, three more than Palmeiras, from Abel Ferreira, and competes the half-finals of Libertadores, against the Argentines of Estudiantes de La Plata – the other opposes the ‘true’ to Fluminense.

“ Considering that in Flamengo it is expected to win everything, always, and I, last year, had this luck – resulting from the work – that did not happen since the time of Jesus, I think we are on the right path ", recognized.

Under the command of Jardim, the Rio de Janeiro club regained leadership after having been eight points from first place.

“ But 10 journeys and 10 journeys are missing and we are in the semifinals of Liberators. What moves us is to repeat what we did last year, knowing that no one ever managed to win Liberators and championship two years in a row ", shot.

Despite reiterating the ambition to raise Liberators for the fifth time, José Boto praised rival Abel Ferreira.

“ I wish you'd come back to us again, to Leonardo, and to Abel for another year without winning, that he's also won enough. But, I'll tell you, after two years in Brazil, seeing someone count six years there, as he did, you have to have a very large resilience. I take off his hat so ", concluded.

The Portugal Football Summit conference, organized by the Portuguese Football Federation, ends on Friday.