Portuguese Cup finalists reunited 20 years later
The squad that played in the final of the Cup of Portugal 2001/0, lost to Sport (0-1) with a goal by Jardel2 made at a dinner, in Matosinhos, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the. Almost all the elements of the team that reached the final of the second most important competition in the country were present, such as coach Carlos Carvalhal, captain Abílio Novais or former president José Manuel Teixeira.
Although he didn’t win the trophy, the football moment went down in history as Leixões reached the final as a team participating in the extinction II Division B. For the coach at the time, Carlos Carvalhal, the football is “a collection of memories” and he believes that this in particular will always be marked in the history of Matosinhenses. “What we are so important today, I believe that no third-person club can be part of a football club in the current way. It’s good to know in the life that we do”, explains the coach.
Along the way, the Mar team left Pevidém, Chaves, Varzim, Moreirense, Portimonense and Braga, in order, but it is really the first game that is marked by a funny story. “By lapse we arrived at the game, Pevidém was already entering the game time, which was already ready to play. as there was this planning error made to not throw up on the field for lunch in conditions”, recalls Carvalhal.
The captain, Abílio Novais, is now the coach of Oliveira do Douro but has similarities with Sporting, such as his free-kick that hit the bar, or his free-kick that hit the bar, or the player given by Antchouet to an opposing player. However, he points out that the group’s union was fundamental for the journey that almost ended in glory. “As the car said, I believe that in the next 100 years in sadness to put a sadness in the third division Portugal team.
José Manuel Teixeira, former president of Leixões, recalls the journey with pride and is happy to have created a family where “everyone rowed in the same direction” with “fantastic games in the Portuguese Cup”. “Never one as beautiful as if he believed in the highest level, but who remembered the club that was as beautiful as the other way and so high, received another kind of tribute for having these same name of the environment of Leixões so high” , says.