Vítor Baía on his Portugal regret: “I was at my peak when I was dropped” | OneFootball

Vítor Baía told Expresso that he was surprised to no longer be among the options for the national team.

“I was in the best phase of my career when I was left out. I never managed to understand why. There was a lot of misinformation, some said it was because I was a witness for António Oliveira in a case, and I was never his witness, others said I created a bad atmosphere and I have never had any stress in my life with any teammate, there was talk of meetings between Pinto da Costa, Mourinho, and Scolari. Only Scolari will know,” he said in statements to Tribuna Expresso.

It should be remembered that Baía was part of the squad for the 2002 World Cup, an edition that left bad memories in Portugal, with the team being eliminated in the group stage. “There was an excellent relationship among the players, but friction between the coaching staff and the management,” he recalled, in a tournament where there was even talk of “garlic behind the goals and in the locker room.” True? “Unfortunately, yes. We were also surprised by those things. They’re beliefs. We lost to the United States 3-2 in the first game, and all I could see was garlic flying through the air. I was incredulous watching that, all the guys upset and garlic flying around. It’s a regret for us, we had everything to win a major competition.”

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