Ex-Benfica man on why he didn’t make it at the Luz, reveals best team-mate | OneFootball

Former Benfica player recounts his time at various clubs in Portugal, after failing to secure a starting position with the sacred mantle

Guga Rodrigues explained the reasons for not succeeding at Luz, and named some of the best players he shared the locker room with, highlighting other stars formed at the Seixal Campus. The Portuguese midfielder, who now plays in the Chinese league, gave an interview to the newspaper A Bola, where he discussed various moments of his career.

"Yes, of course injuries ended up influencing, but on my part there is no resentment. There is indeed gratitude, because, as I've said many times, Benfica provides all the conditions for you to have a career in football. Of course, there are choices, there are players who make their debut in Benfica's main team, but, even those who don't, Benfica provides all the conditions for you to have a career. I've even said: 'only those who don't want to, don't become players at Benfica.'", began explaining Guga Rodrigues, about his journey at the Luz emblem.

He continued, about the best players he shared the locker room with: "The best player is difficult, because there were, and there are, they are still playing, but there was a lot of quality. But perhaps the one who seemed most ready for immediate performance in a first team, perhaps was, at the physical level, it was Renato Sanches. Then the rise also of Rúben Dias did not surprise me, because you could already see a differentiated leadership from all of us and that clearly helped in the main team of Benfica, even after a year or two they gave him the armband".

He also commented on the goal he scored against the eagles, while playing for Rio Ave, with whom the red team recently drew: "I think it's special for all players who are in so-called smaller teams to score goals against the so-called big ones. It's no more special to score against Benfica than it would be against FC Porto or Sporting".

Finally, he assessed the eagles' chances in this national championship: "From what I've seen, at this moment the team I liked the most was FC Porto. I think they have some different ideas from what we've seen in recent times. Of course, the championship is long, many things happen, but from what I've been following, they've had some injuries, but I think it's going to be very tight. Both FC Porto, Sporting and Benfica ended up making a super, super high investment".

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.