Manuel Cordeiro, Paulo Sousa's assistant coach since his time at Hungary, accompanied the coach on his arrival at Flamengo. Having played for clubs in Europe and China, the Portuguese coach shared a bit about his career on Perfil FlaTV.

"In Portugal, there's a culture of coaches who come from university, and since I wasn't very good with my feet, I was more academically inclined, with football being a passion. I started when I was 14, when I first considered coaching. I completed my studies and entered a university in Portugal, where several renowned coaches, such as Carlos Queiroz and José Mourinho, passed through. My first internship was at Vitória de Setúbal, where I worked for five years. Then I had the opportunity to move to Lisbon and went to Belenenses, a club in the first division. I worked there for two years, always as head coach. In my second year, Paulo met me and said he needed someone to work with him in Hungary. He invited me to spend a week with him to get my thoughts on football. And after that week, Paulo invited me to work at Videoton. I stayed there for a year and then served on his coaching staff at all the clubs he worked for."

"Our coaching staff is very hardworking. None of us turn our backs on work. This is one of the characteristics we share and has been throughout my life. Besides being a hard worker, I'm a cheerful person. It's also another thing that our staff always strives to see the bright side of life. That's what I strive for in any field. A cornerstone for me is living according to what makes you happy."

"It's extremely important to have players on your squad who are used to winning, who know what it takes to win these days. Many people think that winning is all about belief, but when you go out on the field, you have eleven players who also want to win. It's important that we convey to the players how important it is to work so that Flamengo can achieve its results."

Check out the full interview with Manuel Cordeiro below: