‘Abel Ferreira was personally the worst coach I had’, says former Palmeiras and Braga player

Abel Ferreira He is considered by many to be the greatest coach in the history of the Palm trees given the eight titles won in his three years at the club. However, before arriving at the Alviverde team, the Portuguese had some conflicts with some Brazilians.

To the website zero zerothe attacker Dyego Sousa, 34 years old, spoke about his relationship with Abel Ferreira when the Portuguese was his coach at Braga. The player said that Abel was personally his worst coach, but the one who helped him the most to understand what it is to play football.

“He is a coach who, personally for me, was the worst I had because of the way he demanded and demanded me. At that point, I was still hard-headed, I didn’t like the way he spoke to me and I clashed with him, I grumbled… But it was a coach who, to this day, I can say – as much as I didn’t like him as a person – showed me what it means to play football and what it means to position yourself on the field”, said Dyego.

Dyego also explained what argument Abel Ferreira used to justify his scolding of the attacker. “He said: ‘Your partner does 11 or 12km a game, you do four or five. You score the winning goal, but he runs double or triple for you. If you don’t run, you won’t play with me’”, said the player, before stating: “That’s what I like, someone who tells me I can’t do it. I go there and prove what I can do. As a coach, Abel was one of the best I had.”

Once, in one of the most tense moments in the relationship with Abel, the president of Braga, António Salvador, tried to intervene, but the Palmeiras coach used a phrase that he repeated a few times at the Alviverde club. “I had a love-hate relationship with Abel. It was complicated. There was a day, during training, when he said something to me and I responded. I insulted him and sent him to the place where he had to go… Salvador was in the field, he sent me inside and asked me if I was crazy. I said, ‘Crazy? I? Your coach is crazy! If I stay here things won’t work out’. At that time, Abel came to talk to us in his very calm posture and said: ‘President, you don’t make good sailors in calm seas’. It got to me and I just said ‘Go to the f…’”.

Dyego came through the youth ranks at Palmeiras, but appeared for football in Portugal. In recent seasons, however, he has been in Spain. After two years at Almería, the striker moved to Alcorcón, a team that occupies the third-to-last position (20th place) in the Second Division of the Spanish Championship.

Naturalized Portuguese, Dyego made two appearances for the Portuguese national team in 2019, in the Euro qualifiers, under the command of Fernando Santos. The games were against Ukraine and Serbia and ended in a draw. The attacker has had no other chances since then. In the current season, in nine matches, he scored four goals.