Tribuna Expresso: Great Games | Nuno Mendes and Euro 2016: “I was 13 years old. I was happy”

Footballer Nuno Mendes, the youngest of the Portuguese team, was “happy” today to be able to play in Euro 2020, after five years of watching the Portuguese conquest on television, and he admitted he was not giving “much fruit”.

“In 2016, I was 13 years old and it was a very important moment for Portugal. I was happy, and after a few years, being here was very important to me. Help me develop and prove that young people have opportunities and can stay here in the long term,” he said at a press conference In Cidade de Futebol, in Oeiras.

The sports team is 19 in the middle of the European finals, on June 19, the day the Portuguese team faces Germany, so the best gift they can get on that day is “winning, playing or not playing” against the German.

In Elkinas, Nuno Mendes will fight for left-back with Rafael Guerrero, the holder of the group led by Fernando Santos and who contributed to the Portuguese invasion in 2016.

“Raphael is a great player. I have had a lot of ideas and I want to improve as much as possible. He plays for Dortmund and this indicates his quality, in addition to being European champion in 2016. He is a great player, he holds several positions, plays well with his left foot and right foot, and I have learned.” A lot of it, “he noted.

“Paw”

When asked if he had really entered a tougher engagement about one of his coaching mates, Nuno Mendes caused laughter in the press room: “I’m not a player who gives too much fruit. Sometimes it’s okay, but I haven’t done it yet but, if necessary. .. “

The left-back highlighted the combination of “youth and experience” that makes Portugal “stronger”, but he, however, refused to see the national team being the favorite to win the European Championship 2020, preferring to consider them as a “candidate, like all players. Others participate” in the continental tournament .

After a period in which he helped Sporting to become a national hero 19 years later, Nuno Mendes admitted it was a year of “attrition” and at the same time a “dream.”

“It was a dream time and it helped me in my short career. I will continue to work hard to achieve my dreams. It was a stressful time, with many matches, but when you are called up to play for the national team, the energies return to the limit. I am young and have a lot to offer,” he said. , Before confirming that he would “remain” an athlete.

Portugal, winner of the trophy, is part of Group F in Euro 2020, along with Hungary, Germany and France, and is scheduled to debut in the competition on June 15, against the Hungarians, in Budapest, before facing the Germans, on May 19, in Munich, and the French. , On May 23, again in the Hungarian capital.

Until departure to Budapest, scheduled for June 10, the national team will hold two preparatory meetings, with Spain, in Madrid, on Friday, and with Israel, on June 9, at the José Alfaladi Stadium, in Lisbon.