By Melody Gross 
Felipe Martins on Thursday paid tribute to Miguel Quaresma, who joined the Casa Pia staff to appear as head coach in the match sheets.
Filipe Martins was registered at the fourth level, the minimum coaching level in the league, but benefited from a temporary exception granted to clubs promoted to the higher level. But the European Football Association (UEFA) does not make this exception, which has raised a problem for Casa Pia and Rio Ave (Louis Freire is in the same position), due to the license request from the European body.
The solution in the “Gansos” case was to recruit the former deputy of Jorge Jesus.
“It was an honor to have someone like Mr. Miguel Quaresma by my side. He is my coaching reference and, more often than not, the person I turn to to clear up some doubts about a coach’s career, which is made up of decisions and moments. It’s my safe haven in football, it always has been. It was an unexpected situation, but for me it is a great honor to be his “assistant” in this situation », said the Casa Pia coach, previewing the match with Portimonense.
Felipe Martins also spoke about the collapse of Casa Pia in the second round, considering it normal, given that once its continuity was guaranteed, Pena Manek’s team began to think about the next season.
“From the moment maintenance was confirmed, we never hid from anything, I said we would rotate the squad, analyze the players and prepare the future of Casa Pia. In line with our direction, we had a vision to start preparing for the future and understanding what some players could bring to the team. When You start making these kinds of decisions, naturally our consistency lost a little bit,” he recalls, citing Lusa Agency.
«All this was arranged and expected, so there is no feeling of frustration. The second course was the scenario that everyone had referred to at the beginning. Fortunately, in March we got guarantees in the first Spanish league, thanks to the competence of everyone involved in the process. He added, “I think we deserved to get more points than we got in the second round, and I may admit that we also scored more points in the first round.”
Elected Casa Pia’s best player this season, Felipe Martins Zolotic expected the return of captain Vasco Fernandez in the match against Portimonense.
“It will be a very competitive match, against a team that has individual quality, and even often changes the system. Paolo Sergio manages that the team is always balanced. We have to be strong with the ball to be able to find the necessary spaces to unbalance their structure, and then, when we don’t have the ball, we have to be organized and compact. They can create problems for us if we are not quick to react to losing the ball, ”according to his analysis.
Casa Pia receives Portimonense at 20:15 this Friday, in the opening match of the 31st round of the league, scheduled at the Estádio Nacional.