Porto 3 Bayern Munich 1: Ricardo Quaresma, the other Ronaldo, finally comes of age
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Ricardo Quaresma’s two goals in the first 10 minutes against Bayern Munich was another tantalising glimpse of what might have been if the mercurial forward had harnessed his talent more effectively.
At the age of 31, Quaresma, who inspired Porto to a 3-1 win in this week's Champions League quarter-final first leg, seems to be trying to make up for lost time after a career punctuated by tantrums and criticism that he does not play for the team.
Raised at the Sporting Lisbon youth academy at the same time as Cristiano Ronaldo, many felt at the time that Quaresma was the more likely of the two to succeed at the highest level.
Instead, Ronaldo has gone on to become one of the world’s leading players while Quaresma’s misfortunes have included being kicked out of Turkish club Besiktas and missing out on three successive World Cups.
An early move from Sporting to Barcelona did not work out as Quaresma became frustrated at being left on the bench by Frank Rijkaard. He left after one season and moved to Porto, where the coach Jesualdo Ferreira tpaid him special attention and coaxed the best out of the temperamental forward.
Quaresma enjoyed four successful seasons with the Dragons before moving to Jose Mourinho’s Internazionale, but he quickly found himself out of favour there.
He was enticed to Chelsea on loan by former Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. However, the Brazilian was sacked just after Quaresma arrived and he again found himself out of favour, making just four appearances in his six months at the club.
Quaresma returned to Inter, where he effectively watched from the bench as Mourinho’s side won the Treble.
“I made the wrong decisions at key moments in my career. I wanted everything quickly, and this only harmed me,” he admitted in an interview last year with the Portuguese newspaper O Jogo.
From that point, it went from bad to worse; Quaresma went to Besiktas but fell out with coach Carlos Carvalhal, at one stage allegedly throwing a water bottle at him, and the club terminated his contract six months early.
He then moved to the United Arab Emirates and joined Al Ahli, but failed to settle there either. But at the start of 2014, Porto came to the rescue. He was greeted by 10,000 fans at his first training session and quickly found himself back in favour.
It was not an entirely happy homecoming, however; he had to be restrained by his team-mates after losing his temper at the end of a game against Nacional and, despite being included in Portugal’s provisional World Cup squad, was cut from the final 23 by Paulo Bento.
But Quaresma is said to be a changed player this season, prepared to accept being left on the bench or substituted. He underlined this in midweek, saying: “There are no stars here. We all work hard for our results. The win is more important to us than the display.”
Reports have surfaced that Bayern’s team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, who has been at the club for 40 years, has resigned after a disagreement with the manager Pep Guardiola.
PA
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