Diogo Branquino and the Olympics: “Quintana will be with us” – making the champions

Score – What happened to Alfredo Quintana earlier this year that gives special meaning to every training session, every game and every trophy he wins from now on?

Diogo Branquino – to everything else! An event we will never forget, Alfredo will always be in our hearts. He is a very close friend. We created weaknesses and weaknesses and the club and the national team were good. Looks like we found another reason to win there. It wasn’t just honoring the club, honoring the team, promoting our career, it was winning for him. It had to be him and him, because Quintana deserved us to be in the Olympics more than we do. But he will be with us in the minds and hearts of all of us.

A – Was he the first person I thought of when they qualified for the Olympics, in that crazy final against France?

DB – before and after. First in the lecture and after the game is over. At first there was that natural euphoria, somewhat thinking “But what’s going on here?” After that we actually caught up and I remember we got together next to the goal. We talked about him… It was a feeling of injustice towards him, because he deserved to be with us.

A – This move that gave the winning goal happened very quickly, but I think it seemed like an eternity to you. Remember what you thought when Rui Silva took the ball and started running towards the goal?

DISPLORE – There was a bit of that feeling, that time didn’t pass and he wouldn’t put the ball there again. The truth is, it was very difficult, but we never stopped believing. Roy seemed to feel something there, because he asked for the defense in this position, he was really feeling it. He did something unusual, which was to leave his position and go almost to intercept the middle, he traveled a few meters and left his player alone and it seemed that the ball had fallen into his hands. But he did not fall into his hands, it was he who went there in search of him. But that’s it, he fell into his hands, he took him to the end – he had colleagues by his side, but he didn’t even think about passing, which is great, shows his courage and determination – and then it went well. What I also find cool is that he barely celebrated, quickly became the chip. He pointed there and started running to avoid a goal…

R – even because it could have gone wrong…

DB – I can! This person can’t login anyway. I didn’t even know it was a target. I remember telling the referee it wasn’t a goal, and when I realized that was the decision, it was crazy. We all went to celebrate together and we still couldn’t quite believe what was going on. We were honored to stamp this ticket and hope our campaign will be appreciated.

A – Paulo Jorge Pereira will get a tattoo and we have already promised that he will get another tattoo if they get a medal. Would you join this or would you like to make another promise?

DB – We have to keep promises (laughs). The last talk after Worlds was interesting because we were all so upset, because we thought we could have moved on with the competition, even though we had the best rating ever. This is a good sign of what we want and the ambition of the players who are now on the team. And in this lecture, I don’t know who remembers, the idea of ​​getting a tattoo for everyone, even a doctor does. The doctor has… I don’t know exactly how old he is, but he is the oldest footnote. He said yes there and the other day I dropped him off from Coimbra and he confessed to me: “And I’m even against tattoos, man! Now I’m going to promise that.”