“The game was for him boy Conceiçao”, thought and said Roberto Martínez after Portugal’s debut against the Czech Republic. The son of the until now Porto coach was decisive with his saving goal in the 92nd minute that gave the three points to the Portuguese. She had entered a few moments before. He found a loose ball after a pass from Pedro Neto and took advantage of it to push at will. A goal that changes his history.
Always looked upon for being the coach’s son, the little winger took a weight off his shoulders and in the process became the country’s new idol. “We are happy with the result and we are happy for the Conceição boy. We celebrate them together and we are happy about it. A demonstration that to win you have to be united,” said Rúben Dias, with a Benfica past, about the Porto footballer.
With a background in Sporting’s youth team and settled in Porto’s first team since 2021, although with a spell at Ajax in between, the 21-year-old has received a great boost in the national team since Roberto Martínez arrived. The coach nicknamed him in the call as ‘espalha-brasas’ (stir embers) as a provocation. No sooner said than done.
In fact, it was the first time that Portugal turned a score in a match in the Catalan coach’s era and it was partly because of that connection between him and Conceiçao for him to assume the role of agitator. The coaches who know him best talk about his audacity and the way he faced any rival since he was a child.
In A Bola, one of them, Israel Dionisio, his former coach in the Porto youth team, reflected this: “As soon as the first training session finished I told him: ‘You’re not going to the locker room today. We’re both still going to run.’ And he answered me: ‘Do you know what my problem is, sir? I really like to eat.’ I could not help laughing. He is like that, very pure and humble.” A discovery for Europe and a success, one more for Portuguese grassroots football.
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