Aurélio Pereira in UEFA interview about the Alvalade youth system

He arrived in Alvalade at the age of just 14 and years later he was invited back to the club by Hilário, where he would remain for two decades as a youth team coach. In July 1988 he opened the youth football department and went on to discover Luís Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Futre, Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma, Nani and an endless list of others.

Aurélio Pereira sat down with UEFA this week to reflect in his time with the Sporting Academy, even revealing some of the tricks to his magical recipe for nurturing talent.

“As soon as we made contact with a player coming from far away, our objective focuses on bringing him over to the Sporting Academy. We are responsible for a massive change in the lives of young players who could become greats one day. We look to build up the lads as players, but also as men. We focus on everything involved in their development and that forges a special link between us. I have known some of the lads who are now in the main team since they were just 12 years' old. We are like family", opened the Alvalade scouting legend, going on to speak about Cristiano Ronaldo: "When we were building the Academy, the players had to move away from the old stadium and come and live at the residence. There was a road nearby where Ronaldo would go. He would put weights on his legs and when the traffic lights turned green he started sprinting. He did that a lot, because he thought it would give him speed and strength. That gives us an idea of what these lads go through."