Palhinha became obsessed with one stat before bossing Benfica's midfield | OneFootball

João Palhinha returned to Portugal to strengthen Benfica and did not hide his happiness at once again representing a club that, he believes, has all the conditions needed to fight for titles. But long before arriving at Luz, the Portuguese international already had a trait that set him apart from the rest: a true obsession with winning the ball back.

Palhinha’s passion for ball recoveries has been with him since his early days in football, and there is a curious detail about the midfielder’s personality on the pitch: when he took up the beautiful game, he became obsessed with his own match statistics, especially when it came to ball recoveries.

The midfielder’s competitive spirit was already evident during his time at Sacavenense. In one of the matches, after making a headed clearance in the six-yard box, Palhinha ended up hitting his head on the crossbar. The crowd noticed the moment and became worried, but the young midfielder quickly got back up and returned to his position.

Among his Sacavenense teammates, Palhinha was known as “a posh boy.” The son of the owner of a car dealership in Arroios, the young Lisbon native even had trials at Benfica, but never received any further contact from the club.

Sporting were the club that ultimately chose to invest in his potential. Years later, Palhinha returns to Benfica and reunites with Marco Silva, the coach he worked with for two seasons at Fulham.

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