Teams of the Decade #4: Porto, 2002-04
Almost six years on, it’s slightly difficult to describe what an incredible job Jose Mourinho did at Porto. Looking across this side and seeing names such as Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche and Costinha, the first reaction is to think, ‘Ah, it was a team packed full of good players’.
But before Mourinho, these were mostly nobodies – either run-of-the-mill players in a decent Porto side, or players plucked from unfashionable clubs in the Liga Sagres – Nuno Valente was signed from Leiria, Paolo Ferreira from Vitoria de Setubal.
It’s a credit to Mourinho that, for two seasons, those two were amongst the best two full-backs in Europe. Since coming to England, both have been exposed as relatively mediocre defenders, but at Porto they were genuinely spectacular, bombing up and down the flanks like Roberto Carlos and Cafu, with the safeguard of three holding midfielders to cover for them.
Aside from that, this was a relatively basic team tactically. Generally setting out in a 4-3-1-2 system, there was nothing tactically innovative about this side. However, they were without question the most well-drilled club side on this list. The defensive line was incredibly effective at catching opposition forwards offside, often playing high up the pitch and using a frankly aggressive offside trap that continued to bamboozle opposition forwards. The midfield worked as a unit rather than a collection of individuals, and Mourinho used different forwards according to the opposition at hand.
This team was often painted as a defensive side, but in reality Mourinho had a flexible approach, and the side would play in completely different ways for individual circumstances. In the quarter-final of the winning Champions League run, Porto trounced a much-fancied Lyon side 4-2 on aggregate in a tremendously open two-legged tie. Then, in the semi-final they produced the most amazing display of defensive football imaginable, to run out 1-0 winners over two legs against Deportivo La Coruna, with the winner coming from a penalty away at the Riazor, where Depor had an incredible record.
The final against Monaco was a great ocassion for football – two unfancied sides with talented young managers doing battle in a wonderful new stadium. Monaco were unlucky in losing skipper Ludovic Giuly to injury, forcing them to change fro ma 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2, and this played into Porto’s hands, as they then dominated the central midfield area. Carlos Alberto’s snapshot came from nothing to put Porto 1-0 up, but in the second half they were incredible, sticking seven men rigidly in front of their keeper, and attacking only with three players at time. And twice they counter-attacked and scored, through Deco and Aleynichev.
Who knows when the next side from a ’small’ footballing country will become champions of Europe again? It’s not unrealistic to say that this might be the last side to ever achieve this. The dominance of the ‘Big 4′ along with Barcelona and Milan in recent years has made for a less interesting competition, and hopefully Michel Platini will continue to try and address the inequality within European football in the next few years.
But Porto’s run was not just about the Champions League. Mourinho also won the UEFA Cup the previous season, the league twice, the Portuguese Cup once (and once runner-up) and the Portuguese SuperCup.
Most importantly, it introduced us to a man who will go down in history as one of the all-time managerial greats. A man who never played professional footballer in his life, a man whose first major job in football was working as an interpretor for Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon, and a man who is now presiding over an 130-game unbeaten home record at Porto, Chelsea and Inter. Mourinho will be around for a long time yet, and his story as a manager is probably only in its infancy, but he will never achieve something as amazing as this Champions League win ever again.
Three videos here – the two second-half Champions League goals, and Mourinho’s legendary run down the touchline at Old Trafford.
Teams of the Decade #4: Porto, 2002-04
If history thought as anything it is that making a long term prognosis is always flawed because we have to start from current situation and are unable to predict potential huge impact changes.
Even from our current position it is clear that, if top Premiership clubs’ debt goes out of hand, the competition would be quite more open and who is to say that maybe a well organized side from The Netherlands, Portugal, France (which is “small” in terms of club football) or maybe Russia wouldn’t be able to exploit the window of opportunity. One can’t really tell.
Are you maybe planning to write this kind of list for 90’s? I would be highly interested to read about Van Gaal’s Ajax, Capello’s Milan or Cruyff’s Barcelona.
Let’s hope so, Ivan. It’s a shame to see the Champions League semi-finals for the past three years be simply the Premiership Big 4 + Milan + Barca. It’s far more exciting to see the sides from ’smaller’ European nations go on a run and surprise everyone.
I’d love to write one for the 90s but I’m not old enough to be able to discuss the sides from the early 90s in sufficient depth for this site, sadly.
True. It saddens me that a club like, for example, Ajax, whose contributions to the development of football are arguably greater than Big Four’s putted together, is unable to compete with them (or even with mediocre Juventus).
Not to mention Benfica, Dynamo Kyev, Feyenoord…
Maybe UEFA should reconsider the question of forming regional leagues.
At this moment it would be refreshing to see Bordeaux or even Inter and Real Madrid reaching semi-finals.
Capello’s Milan? Saatchi’s Milan!
Ok so that’s pushing the 80s!
Excellent blog, wish I had thought of it!
Is the 130-game unbeaten record meant to be in the league only? Otherwise Charlton Athletic beat Mourinho’s Chelsea on 26 October 2005 1-1 aet (5-4 on penalties). Before anyone says this doesn’t count as a loss, well, I didn’t see England in the 1990 World Cup final, did you?
In leagues only, yes.
This was really a great team. I am a FC Porto supporter and I remember to watch this matches as a child and, for some reason, be absolutely sure it would always win. The team had won so many trophies back then that the players were extremely confident, Mourinho was extremely confident and all the supporters were confident.
It was just that the way the team played, gave everyone the certainty of a sure win
Interesting team from the late 80’s and early 90’s is Red Star Belgrade, which won the CL in spring of 91. While the final against Papin’s Marseille was the most boring match of all time, won after the perfect PK shootout, the most amazing game of the CL tournament that year was the first leg against Bayern. As always with the German sides, they were extremely organized, but Red Star managed to score two away goals and win 2:1. Matheus was not on that team, but they had Effenberg, Augentahler and Augman in goal. What amazed me at the time though, was the fact that Red Star played an amazing counter attacking game, maybe the first time I saw 4-5-1 in a Balkan club side, while the entire season, against lesser competition, they played a regular 4-4-2, with short passing and delivery from the back. Incredibly, their one “fast” player, winger Binic, was constantly left open by Bayern’s fullbacks, enabling him to deliver a bunch of crosses for striker Pancev (who scored, like, forty some goals that season). That team lost a year earlier to Milan in the second round after PK’s and in 92 to Sampdoria in the second group stage. Wow.