Lucho Gonzalez voted player of the year by Portuguese coaches

Argentine playmaker thanks team-mates for accolade

Not all news has been bad in a difficult week for champions FC Porto. The 16 coaches in the Portuguese top flight have voted Lucho Gonzalez as the best player in Portugal.

In a poll organised by Portuguese website, Maisfutebol, the country’s top managers placed the classy Argentine midfielder in 1st place, with compatriot Lisandro Lopez ranked second.

The Porto captain was delighted with the accolade, stating “I’m a better player since I arrived at Porto because the club let players grow and get stronger. The team provides conditions to become a better player. I played in big games and performed on great European stages. And I won plenty of trophies here.”

Since signing for the Dragons in the summer of 2005, Lucho has led his team to the domestic championship in three successive seasons, contributing many goals along the way although he did not score as many as in previous years in 2007/08.

“I do not go on the pitch thinking about scoring. All I am thinking about is helping the team to achieve wins and I have great joy providing assists as well. This season I assisted more and Lisandro scored more, that is it.”

False result

Porto won the championship by a 14-point margin over second-placed Sporting, despite having six points docked for the corruption scandal. Curiously, Lucho said perhaps the team’s best performance came in the 2-0 defeat away to their Lisbon rivals.

“We played great against them in their stadium. It was a false result but we responded well in that game and showed why we were superior during the season. We could and should have won that game.” The Argentina international also highlighted the away win against Benfica as a great moment in Porto’s season.

Lucho ended by modestly saying the award was given due to Porto winning the national title and the help he gets from his team-mates.

Unsurprisingly, Gonzalez is one of Porto’s players that is constantly linked with a big money move abroad. Speculation will no doubt heighten should the club fail in their appeal against their Champions League expulsion, although the Argentine has said on numerous occasions he is happy and settled at Porto.