Rodrigo Mora, the World Cup aim and healed wounds: “We must be careful…” | OneFootball

The role of the fans: “I think they were undoubtedly the 12th player. I think in every game, whether it was the Europa League on Thursday, or on Sunday, or Monday — which isn’t easy because people work — they were still there supporting us, and I think they were without a doubt very important for us. They pushed us on too, which is important. I think the team understood that as well and it lifted us up to win this title that they wanted so much and that we wanted so much.”

What does winning it reveal about what the team can still achieve? “We’ve already proven the quality we have, not only by winning this title, but also in the Europa League, where we were a bit unlucky — I think we could have gone further. But we showed, even playing with 10 men in the last game against Nottingham, the quality we have. It wasn’t by much that we missed out on the semi-finals, and I think this team, next year, will fight again to win the title and in the Champions League try to go as far as possible.”

Goals: “In the future, honestly, I think that right now the World Cup with the national team is my next dream and goal. I think it would be a dream twice over, because winning the league with FC Porto was already something crazy. I think that now going to the World Cup would be everything I want — it would be a year ending in the best possible way — and that’s it, we’ll see. I’m continuing to give my all and now we wait for the squad announcement.”

What impact does winning it have on next season? “Last year we both started out with wounds, and this year maybe they’ve healed, but they can open up again, so we have to be careful. We can’t go in as champions thinking everything will be fine. We have to go in the way we did this year. I think we didn’t let up in any game, and I think that’s it. We are champions, of course we’ll be the team to beat, but that depends on us — if we start the way we did this year, I don’t think any team can stop us.”

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