Paulo Ferreira: “It’s fundamental we make a good start to Euro 2008”

Chelsea defender happy with left-back role

Newly transformed Portugal left-back Paulo Ferreira is primed to take his place in the team for Portugal’s tournament opener against Turkey on Saturday.

The former FC Porto defender is primarily a right-back, but has played for Portugal on the left in the past, and is more than willing to do so again.

“It is not the position that I am accustomed to, but it is not the first time that I have played there,” explained the Chelsea player. “Sincerely, it is not the same as playing on the right, but what is important is to do what is asked of me in order to help the team.

“I want to show Scolari that I am prepared to play. There are 23 players with a lot of quality. Fighting hard to play is always good for the team. We cannot give anything but our best and show that we can be multi-functional.”

Ferreira spoke about the importance of Portugal’s match against Turkey and starting the tournament on the right foot. “It’s fundamental to start well so that in the following games we can have a little bit of breathing space.

“At Euro 2004 we had a different experience (losing to Greece in the first game) and found out how difficult it was having to chase results from then onwards.

“It’s always important to start well and we hope on Saturday this happens. We will face a great team with great players, but it’s logical that we will do everything in order to have a good start.”

Ferreira’s team-mate, Petit, echoed the defender’s sentiments, emphasising the need to get a good result against the Turks.

“The first match will be crucial and we are studying Turkey very closely. We know they have a good team with very experienced players who play at good clubs. Our priority is to become extremely familiar with them,” said the Benfica midfielder.


Euro 2008 Portugal diary