“Who needs to learn, go study. Who doesn’t need to, goes to the beach.”
Just after winning the Copa do Brasil with Grêmio, manager Renato Portaluppi could show his ego for a while. The quote above was something he said right after the title, and ended up being taken with some controversy in Brazil.
Many Brazilian managers have been travelling to Europe so they can learn more and bring something back to the country. It seems like the sensible thing to do, especially after the World Cup shame. But some have different thoughts.
Renato Portaluppi has always been a character, pretty much known in his days as a player for dating many girls, missing training and still scoring goals and lifting trophies. Some kind of Southern Brazil George Best.
In this video from 1985, you can see him sending flowers to many of his ‘girlfriends’ on Valentine’s Day. Brilliant stuff.
Anyway, his career as a manager couldn’t be any different. So when asked again by ESPN about his recent comments, here’s what he said:
“There are managers out there who everyone praises for their merits. Guardiola is one of them, Mourinho is another. Then I ask you: Did anyone see Guardiola or Mourinho with an average or bad squad?”
“I wanted to be in their shoes too. Getting to a club and setting up my team. Making a national team, practically. Then you must get results.”
“Then you see Guardiola’s team, you see Mourinho’s team and say: ‘Wow, what beautiful football!”. Well, so even Stevie Wonder [could do it]. Do you understand?”
“Even Stevie Wonder. Because those who are good, go there and play. You don’t have to feed them. Now I want to see them come to work here on the difficulty. That’s all I have to say.”
Guardiola and Mourinho would argue they’re both facing challenges this season at Manchester City and Manchester United, and certainly not having an easy route to success.
