Dragão!!!

Yesterday I was so absorbed with the match Porto-Chelsea that I didn’t pay proper attention to the beautiful images of the stadium. Only afterwards I really noticed the thrilling images of 50.000 Porto fans celebrating the goal of Raul Meireles.

And I was so sorry not to be there! Sorry for not being able to live such an exhilaration as watching such a match live in ‘Estádio do Dragão’, considered to be one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world. And definitely the most beautiful for me! For being “OUR” stadium. For having my name on those walls! For having lived so many joys there!

And it is obviously even more spectacular in such special nights like yesterday’s!

I remember the first international match of this stadium, in 2004, the Champion League’s eights of final first round match against ManU. That day, in a sold-out and vibrating stadium, on the path to becoming European Champion’s, a legendary rivalry was born, between the ‘Special One’ Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson.

Mourinho was back yesterday, to play in that magical stadium, were he got amazing memories. And he was back to play against the team that gave him the greatest glories and led him to world stardom and a millionaire pay-slip…

Who owes more to the other: Porto to Mourinho or Mourinho to Porto? In my opinion, they owe each other equally, as this as the perfect example of a win-win relation.

Mourinho made out of a great team an excellent one! Porto made out of a great coach an excellent one!

And he must have a thought of it while leaving Dragão yesterday. At this stadium, where he never lost with Porto, he was not yet able to win with Chelsea (in two attempts). More, yesterday he played clearly for the draw! Maybe he felt that playing to win would be too much of a risk…

This stadium had a premiere yesterday: the humble version of Mourinho!!! Maybe Mourinho understood that he owes more to Porto than he thought… And maybe, just maybe, it crossed his mind that his Porto would have likely beaten his Chelsea yesterday.

One more story for Estádio do Dragão to tell. One more story I didn’t see live…