Maniche boy to main man

Portugal v Greece: Like a heavily tattooed man bearing irremovable evidence of a love affair long ended, Portugal's Maniche is living testimony to the fact that things do not always work quite the way we intended in this life.

Nuno Ricardo Oliveira Ribeiro grew up a dedicated Benfica fan, playing his football on the back streets of the Portuguese capital and going each weekend to worship at the club's huge cathedral of football, the Estadio da Luz. By the age of nine, he was already on the club's books but even before that he had taken for a nickname the surname of the tall and somewhat ungainly Danish striker, Michael Manniche, who won two championships with the country's most famous outfit back in the mid-1980s. He was a striker himself back then.

Last season he publicly destroyed his membership card of the supporters' club but says, with a hint of embarrassment, it was a little too late to consider changing his name.

Maniche's arrival at the top table of Portuguese football is long overdue. A highly regarded youngster, he marked himself out as a star of the future in a succession of successful underage national teams. But his has been a troubled journey to the top, however, with the now 26-year-old first establishing himself at his beloved Benfica only to fall out with the then powers that be at the club. The controversial manner in which a move to Porto was completed two years ago ensured there would be no going back.

As a teenager Maniche - a quick and insightful midfielder with a reputation for working tirelessly to get the ball and stepping up a gear or two in his effort to carry it forward - caught the eye of just about everybody who saw him. As was normal at his club the young player was farmed out in order to get experience in the lower leagues but events took a strange twist in 1998 when he and Deco (also on loan from Benfica) made such an impact while playing together at Alverco that they helped their side win promotion to the top flight.

A year later Maniche was brought back to the Stadium of Light and predicted he would score 10 goals for the first team that season. He did precisely that and though the strike rate dropped dramatically he performed well again in the following campaign. When Dutch coach Jupp Heynckes took over at the club he identified the young star as a player to build a team around but Maniche, with a similarly high opinion of himself, sought a contract to match the status. The result was a full year wasted with the reserves and youth team.

During his brief time at Benfica Jose Mourinho had been impressed with Maniche's ability although initially not his attitude and it was only after the coach won a brief battle of wills that the pair worked well together.

Having moved on to Porto after troubles of his own at Benfica, Mourinho stepped in for the unhappy midfielder and though the move was the subject of a dispute between the clubs that has only recently been resolved, the signing proved to be inspired for both player and coach with Maniche developing into an impressive linkman between midfield and attack.

In two seasons with the Dragons he has proved himself at the very highest level and after playing an important role in the league success and UEFA Cup win of 2003 he was outstanding during the championship and Champions League triumphs of the season just passed.

His senior international arrival was equally belated and after a particularly disappointing friendly defeat last year, he had a row with Luiz Felipe Scolari and was promptly dropped.

His form at club level, however, was impossible to ignore in the build-up to this tournament and the Brazilian, to his credit, restored him to the team for the opening game against Greece when Petit had been expected to partner Costinha in central midfield.

At yesterday's team press conference just outside Lisbon the pair positively gushed about each other with Maniche describing Scolari as "a great coach whose ideas we are very keen to implement and whose decisions we respect without question", and Scolari explaining, slightly less poetically, that his decision to include the player was made because, "in midfield you need one who is strong, can attack and passes the ball and for me Maniche is that player".

He does a good deal more as his goals against Russia and, particularly, The Netherlands have shown and Mourinho is in little doubt about the status of his former protégé.

"It was perhaps the best goal of the tournament from the feet of the best player in the competition," said the new Chelsea coach after Wednesday's performance.

"Thanks to his performances in the Champions League and now this tournament he has taken his place in the gallery of superstars. He has been consistently so strong this year going forward or back, whether home or away, in the sun or the rain that it makes me smile to think he nearly didn't get into the squad."

Not only is he there now, he is a potential match-winner for the hosts, whose supporters back up in Oporto may even forgive him for accepting one of the many lucrative offers from leading Spanish clubs (€17 million is said to be the asking price) if he can help Portugal complete their journey to glory tomorrow night in the Stadium of Light.