Mauricio Hanuch visits Alvalade

Fifteen years have come and gone, but it seems like just yesterday. Mauricio Hanuch made an emotional return to Alvalade this week, to relieve one of the most memorable periods of his career.

"I arrived at Sporting and was champion straight away. I was only 21 when I arrived and I was really young", said the Argentinean in a short interview with Sporting TV.

"It was the best experience of my career. To come to such an important club, with 40,000 people watching me in the stadium, made me really happy", said Hanuch after his visit, going on to speak about Sporting's current stadium: "It is really nice. I played at the last one, which was totally different. Unfortunately I wasn't at the opening of the new stadium."

From the 1999/2000 league winning side, led by Augusto Inácio, Hanuch is full of happy memories: "There were a lot of players with a lot of experience. Acosta, Beto - who was young but very experienced -, André Cruz...It was a mix of young and experienced players. A bit later we had Hugo Viana, Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo..."