Villas-Boas: Jorge Costa was a great mate, always by my side | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas spoke during the ceremony renaming Olival to the Jorge Costa Training and Sports Development Center, appearing emotional as he referred to the former central defender, who recently passed away:

“Jorge Costa means a lot to me and I deeply regret his loss; he was a great man and a great companion. So, I would like to send a big hug to Jorge, who died on August 5th, but left us an impressive legacy—of charisma, of victories, a force of nature. A special man… There’s something very curious about David that reminds me of his father, which is the way he walks, unmistakable… And the curly hair he had in his youth—when he was older, he no longer had curls, his bald head was more visible. But he was a great companion, a man who never left me alone, who always stood by my side. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by different feelings, for having brought him back to this house, for having lost him here, the way it happened, in my arms. Well… Once again, I want to thank the FC Porto teams who went through a very sad moment, but one that will inspire us to become champions. Our Bicho is a force of nature and will be an example for our achievements, to inspire us. I also want to thank our medical teams for the work we did until the end, to bring him back to life. It was a very tough, very complicated day…”

The official told Jorge Costa’s family that FC Porto intends to dedicate the championship victory to his memory:

“We fought for this championship to be able to honor your father, his son, and to eternalize him even more in the memory of FC Porto. Dear Estela, I want you to know that this plaque here is nothing compared to what Bicho means to FC Porto. His flag at the Dragão has a very powerful and sentimental meaning for us. Here we will decorate these walls with even more vigor and strength. And I would like to say that this Training Center will be the center of FC Porto’s youth development in two years; we hope the High Performance Center will be ready soon… And so, the memory of Bicho, or his presence, of Jorge Costa, among the young athletes will be fundamental, so that we have new ‘Bichos’ at FC Porto. I sincerely thank you for your generosity towards FC Porto, the generosity of your family, for this wonderful step. Thank you.”

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