Pedro Pauleta, director of the lower teams of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and former player of UD Salamanca, Deportivo de La Coruña or PSG, assures that the Final Phase of the Champions League in Lisbon will be “the hour of players who they make a difference, like João Félix ”, whom he knows very well.
During an interview with EFE, he confesses that he would like Paris Saint Germain to win this edition, where he ended his career, although he does not forget that there are footballers like his compatriots Cristiano Ronaldo and Bernaldo Silva or Messi and Neymar “who can make a difference.”
Pauleta, from his position as federative director, is clear that Lisbon meets all the conditions to successfully celebrate the Final Phase of the Champions League from August 12 to 23 and believes that both the Portuguese and those who visit the Portuguese capital these days they will be safe.
About 15,000 fans from different clubs are expected.
It makes us a little uneasy. If more people come, the better, but the risk is higher. The authorities are aware of this and they know how to control this situation in the best possible way and they know the importance of this competition for our country. But the most important thing is the safety of all the people who are in Portugal and those who visit us.
Each club will be in a bubble.
The eight training centers of each club are in the outskirts of Lisbon, within a radius of about 30-40 kilometers. All the equipment will be very well installed, not only in the centers, but also in the hotels in Lisbon.
Indeed, Atlético de Madrid will be in Seixal, Benfica's training center. João Félix returns to his origins.
João are lucky to return where he did his training and for him it will be very important. I know João Félix very well, he was with us in the lower teams and in the U21. He is clearly a player who makes a difference due to his age, quality and personality. It still has the potential to grow.
Is it the time for João Félix?
I think this Champions League is different. The eight clubs will think that it could be an opportunity, since anything can happen in a game. And all the clubs and players see it as an opportunity. It is time for the players who make a difference.
I guess his heart will go to PSG.
It is the club that I would like to see win, it is the club that is in my heart, I have a very strong bond with him, because I do many things with PSG. One day he will win that trophy and it could be this year, because he has high quality players and they are hungry to win.
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cristiano is one of the players who can make a difference at any moment, he can win the game alone and can make Juventus champion. And there are also others who make a difference: Messi, Neymar, João Félix or Bernardo Silva, who is a phenomenon as a player and as a human being.
The real Madrid.
With Zidane, Real Madrid is even stronger. It is the biggest club in football. A charismatic coach who always wins. Real Madrid is a great favorite.
And Lisbon, what will it offer in this edition?
Climate, food, sympathy of the people and security in the face of the very serious problem we are going through.
What can you tell us about your work in the lower Portuguese teams?
The lower teams are lucky that there are clubs in Portugal that work very well in training. And we benefit a lot from the work of clubs like Benfica, Oporto, Sporting, Braga or Vitória de Guimarães. With the selections we make the final part, the complement.
And how are the teams, who have been without activity since March.
Now nobody knows how the players will arrive or if the competitions will resume in September. It's been six months without playing football. But it is the same for everyone. If the problems are fixed, we will quickly make up for lost time.
The Pauleta Foundation has been working for years on social projects for the Azores and has a soccer school.
Yes, the school was created in 2004 and it has a sports complex with two soccer fields, bleachers and a gym. It trains 350 children from 3 to 17 years old. It is a social project that is part of the Pauleta Foundation to help the 9 islands of the Azores. We not only train children as players, especially as people.