Carlos Carvalhal

“We have to understand the abilities of the players. We will try to build a game model with our ideas and with the players we have.”

“When you go to the play-offs one time, it can be a lot of things - that we have a good group of players, you can be a little lucky, you can have momentum.”

“I believe society and football are all the time together, and will come to a new harmony.”

“We practise, we know exactly what we must do and we win.”

“I am from a poor background in Portugal. We were medium-down, not down-and-out. My parents felt problems around food in the past but they made sure I did not miss anything. But there was nothing extra, no luxuries.”

“I chose Rio Ave because I had something in my head about wanting to do it differently to how I had done it in my past. Something new.”

“It's called tactical periodisation because you push the physical and the psychological part together, but with organisation. So you run, but you run all the time with the ball. Always with the ball.”

“I knew Portuguese football and I knew that Rio Ave was a medium-sized club but I also knew they are organised off the pitch. We felt that we could achieve something special playing in a different way.”

“I remember Simple Minds, Echo and the Bunnymen, Nina Hagen, Elvis Costello and Duran Duran. And the best concert I ever saw was the Rolling Stones, in the stadium of Sporting Lisbon.”

“To me, I don't have any problems. I don't have economic problems. I have an independent life.”

“Flamengo usually contact managers who have won a lot of trophies.”

“If the owner goes inside a team and picks one player to play, I can no longer be the manager. Decisions must be made by the manager.”

“I love football but it doesn't come in front of my family. One time when I was manager of Braga I cancelled my contract because I had a problem with my family.”

“Sometimes we need to take some time to reflect. Sometimes we need to do something different. Sometimes we need to do something not because others are doing it so we want to do the same, but because it is different.”

“I like music more balanced between the voice and the guitar and the percussion. I don't like heavy metal.”

“Just play football. If you are a writer, you must write. It's the best way to practise. If I'm a pianist, I don't need to run in the forest for one hour or two hours to be a good pianist. I must play piano. So this is what we are doing all the time. Play football. Simple ideas.”

“I believe in myself, I believe in my players. My target is to try to get them to believe in themselves and believe in their colleagues. These are the things that we must do.”

“I'm Portuguese. After lunch, I need an espresso.”

“When we go to the opera, we put the clothes on we know we must wear for there.”

“When I arrive people don't know me very well, but it's about the work we do and the way the team play.”