The key man in the rise of Joao Félix

Joao Félix wouldn't be the player he is today if it wasn't for the intervention of Bruno Lage. The manager became Benfica manager in January 2019 and made full use of the starlet's potential, who finished the season as a world star.

Now, the manager has gone over what he did to make Joao Félix explode on to the world stage. "I arrived at Benfica from England in January 2018. I didn't know him but I immediately saw he had something special", Lage started.

"He integrated into the first team when I became manager in January. I adapted my formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 so that he could play", the manager insisted.

The "incarnate" manager had more and more faith in the Atletico Madrid star: "I quickly realised that he was unplayable. 60,000 people in the stands saw him play and it hardly bothered him"

Bruno Lage ended by talking about the player's major strength, his strong personality: "When I started to work with him, I noted one thing in particular; he doesn't care what others think".

A footballer who was made at Benfica and earned the right to his multi-million pound move to Atlético, where he hopes to become a world star in a few years.