Villas-Boas in tears over Jorge Costa’s death: “In my arms…” | OneFootball

After finishing the written speech he had prepared for the ceremony renaming the Olival training center to Jorge Costa Training and Sports Development Center, André Villas-Boas spoke off the cuff, without notes, letting the emotion come through in his words.

“Jorge Costa means a great deal to me and I deeply regret his loss; he was a great man and a great companion. So I’d like to leave here a big embrace for Jorge, who died on August 5, but left us an extraordinary 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 on show,” he said, recalling the moment of the former FC Porto director’s passing at Olival: “But he was a great companion, a man who never left me alone, who always stayed by my side. Sometimes I’m 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 lived 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 hard day, very complicated…”

“We fought for this championship to be able to honor your father, his son, and make him even more eternal in the memory of FC Porto,” he said, addressing Jorge Costa’s children and mother, before continuing to the late center-back’s wife: “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 more vigor and strength. And I would like to say that this Training Center will be FC Porto’s development center two years from now; 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 for us to have new ‘Bichos’ at FC Porto. I thank you from the heart for your generosity toward 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.