“In Sporting, there were many complaints from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lent”

In Camp Nou, the former Portuguese international was used by the then coach, the Dutchman Frank Rijkaard, in only 28 official matches, which he scored with a goal, before returning to Portugal, a year later, by the ‘door’ of FC Porto, appreciably for the same value, in the negotiations by Deco.

One of the interviewees was Toñito, who shared a spa with him at the José Alvalade Stadium, and who does not forget the partnership he formed with a young Christian Ronaldo: “The two received many scrapnets and complaints from the veterans, due to the barbarities they made, in one against one.”.

“ As much as what was said about them was said, they had that nerve, and there you already knew that, on the edge of qualities, they had personality. They would go around their heads, and they would face them again,” said the old average, currently 49 years old.

“ It is advantageous to say today that I already knew they would get what they did, but it was obvious that they would be professionals. The difference between one and the other was mental capacity. Christian had a different mentality, and Lent had an infinite technical quality. In the end, the two showed that they left a mark, and Cristiano continues to leave ", he added.

“Quarsma was a kind of player with a physicist in the style of Cristiano Ronaldo”

Jaume Langa, at the time, the physiotherapist of Barcelona, took the explanations about Ricardo Lent to another plan: “He was a kind of player with a physicist like Cristiano’s, a very explosive extreme, with a change of pace that left the side sitting. If the play began, he almost always concluded it himself”.

In Camp Nou, Mustang was in friendship with Óscar López, who explains the union between them with the fact that they are “about the same age” and “like to play games”: “They sat us close in the locker room, and we had a connection. In concentrations, we spent a lot of time together.”.

“ He's a very good guy, and in practice, I often used to play against him, because he was extreme right and I was side-left. I remember especially the crosswords. He came with a great desire to triumph, but it was a hard and difficult season for him”, he recalled.

“It’s one of those football players who is dedicated to doing things that are really useless”

Finally, Rafa Cabeleira, columnist from El País who followed with particular attention the case of Ricardo Lent, recalled: “For me, he is an absolutely fetish player, for various reasons. The first, because it is Portuguese, which, for me, is a variety of Galician, but with the pride of belonging very exacerbated”.

“The second, due to its way of understanding the game. It seems totally subversive, totally excessive and meaningless. Which brings us to the third. I think it is one of those football players who are dedicated to doing things that, in reality, are useless, except for having fun”, he reflected.

“ I will always be very in favor of people who do things that are useless”, he concluded.