As Louis van Gaal flew out to his villa in the Algarve to count his reported €7m pay-off by Manchester United, his successor José Mourinho was attempting to quantify the millions he will need to rebuild the Red Devils.
At the same time, former United hero Cristiano Ronaldo was picking up his second Champions League medal with Real Madrid to add to the one he won at Manchester United.
Ronaldo, only a shadow of his usual self, stepped up to the plate to smash home the all-important winning goal in the penalty shoot-out against Atlético Madrid at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.
In a passionate but downbeat final it was more a case of cynical fouls and play-acting that caught the eye. Ronaldo’s team mate Pepe came under the close scrutiny of English referee Mark Clattenburg on a number of occasions.
The two Portuguese internationals, who have nearly 200 caps between them, have been given time off by Fernando Santos and will have missed the EURO 2016 warm-up friendly against England at Wembley on Thursday.
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| Mourinho and Ronaldo on top of the world |
Nani and Bruno Alves, both of Fenerbahce, were also given time off after losing in the Turkish Cup final to fierce rivals Galatasaray.
Portugal were facing England for the first time since the World Cup quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen, in 2006, when Wayne Rooney was sent-off and Portugal won on penalties, with Ronaldo again scoring the crucial spot-kick.
That day will live long in the memory of Algarve resident Ricardo who became the only goalkeeper to save three penalties in a World Cup shoot-out as he denied Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher.
On Sunday Portugal beat Norway in Porto and with the quartet of Portuguese stars missing it gave Southampton’s Jose Fonte and Cedric Soares an opportunity to stake a claim for places.
Monaco centre-back and former Chelsea star Ricardo Carvalho also played and is expected, at the age of 38, to be the oldest outfield player at the Euros. Ricardo Quaresma was in outstanding form and his spectacular dipping shot gave Portugal the lead before a wicked free-kick by Liverpool target Rapheal Guarneri (Lorient, France) curled into the top corner giving Norway’s custodian Jarstein no chance as it swerved over the defensive wall and in off the post.
Former Swansea flop Éder, now with Lille (France), added the third.
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