Goalkeeping coach lifts lid on Benfica stars

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  • Oliveira with Benfica's Julio Cesar.

    For goalkeeping aficionados across the world, Hugo Oliveira holds an exalted position.

    Since 2011, he has overseen an incredible conveyor belt of talent at Portuguese giants Benfica. Slovenia’s Jan Oblak developed into one of the finest shot-stoppers in the world under his tutelage prior to transferring to Atletico Madrid two years ago, while Brazil’s Julio Cesar and the emerging Ederson Moraes have benefited from his supreme technical knowledge.

    Sport360 caught up with the 37-year-old goalkeeping coach to discuss his work with the celebrated trio, the Portugal national team and a desire to potentially bring this expertise to the UAE in the future.

    Q) You have worked with a number of leading goalkeepers at Benfica, such as Julio Cesar and Jan Oblak. What are the main things required in training to make such great players even better?

    A) We coach with the possibilities of the players. We have intentions and they have the possibilities. If you have players with good possibilities and a coach with method in the intentions, the path will be better and easier.

    In a few words, they need to be passionate about the game and the training and make them believe that I know the path to improve their game. For me, it’s all about passion but with high-level methodology.

    Julio Cesar has so much experience at top clubs and with Brazil. What is his personality like and how much did you enjoy your time working with him?

    Julio is a fantastic keeper but also a fantastic human being. I used to say that he is like a giant with a lot of hunger, hunger of titles.

    He is the example that no matters how big you are, how much titles you won, you only have a future if you work hard and that goal Julio and I have in common.

    Hugo Oliveira with one of many trophies won at Benfica

    Hugo Oliveira with one of many trophies won at Benfica.

    After working with Ederson Moraes, do you see him as the next great Brazilian goalkeeper and why? What are his strengths?

    As I always say, players have possibilities and Ederson has a lot of possibilities. With good intentions and with hard work he can get there.

    Last season, at the age of 22, he was called up by Brazil and they only call the best.

    He has a lot of body power and at Benfica, he developed his technique and capacity to understand the game. Now, the future depends on him.

    Jan Oblak has grown into one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers. What are your memories of him from when he arrived at Benfica and what areas did you concentrate on to make him even better?

    In my opinion, Jan has been one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers for several years. Jan, being only 20-years old, has played in a Europa League final, won the Portuguese Championship, Portuguese Cup and League Cup with Benfica and in all competitions he showed his quality.

    Jan has a lot of talent, but his strength is his strong personality, discipline and intelligence.

    We focused our work in the game and the game decisions, the capacity to take good decisions, to be ready to play high-level games, understand the game and the tactical movements, the game of eleven, of 22 and not only the specific game of the goalkeeper.

    What are your favourite memories of working with Portugal national team?

    It was great to be part of the people’s team. You know that every supporter has a team, but they are all together when they support the national team. Being with the national team and to help the team to achieve victories is fantastic, but to the see the happiness of our national team supporters is something amazing.

    It was also fantastic to be part of a team of coaches that with the leadership of Carlos Queiroz helped Portugal qualify for the 2010 World Cup and Portuguese young players to be recognized with their talent. I was in the top team and with the Under-20s and U-17s, the main project goal was to help the young Portuguese players.

    Would you ever be interested in working in the UAE? If so, what do you think are the major challenges to help smaller nations develop good goalkeepers?

    For sure. I love projects and their development. To create new paths and strategies to see players grow.

    I believe that the future must be prepared today with method and discipline. When I travelled with Benfica to the UAE to play a friendly game there, I watched games in the UAE leagues and saw goalkeepers with possibilities to grow and play at a high level if they work with top methodology.

    The UAE has the potential and the capacity to grow in terms of football and goalkeeping.

    Football is a world’s sport and I am a coach of the world.

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