South African striker Benni McCarthy enjoyed 5 years of his career in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and West Ham, but he will always be remembered for leading the line in Jose Mourinho's remarkable FC Porto side that won the Champions League in 2004.

Speaking recently on The Big Interview with Graham Hunter, McCarthy was reflecting on that unlikely achievement and going through the truly impressive starting XI that Mourinho had formed into an all conquering team.

The names hold up today, it was a bloody glorious side.

Vitor Baia; Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Costa, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente; Constinha, Maniche, Pedro Mendes, Deco; Benni McCarthy, Derlei.

Sadly for Porto fans, although they were surely used to it, that team was ravaged by clubs all over Europe after hitting such heights, and along with the likes of Deco and Pedro Mendes, Ricardo Carvalho was quickly snapped up.

Jose Mourinho was determined to bring the defender with him to Chelsea, and it turned out to be a magnificent signing as Carvalho formed a rock-solid partnership with John Terry and left the club as a hero in 2010 to join Real Madrid (and Mourinho again).

While he was unquestionably a top player, it turns out he was not somebody you could call a 'top pro', as his former Porto teammate Benni McCarthy took great joy in telling the world how shite Carvalho was in training.


He was a soft giant, but I think his career was saved because he had a manager like Jose Mourinho because he understood and got to know his players. That's why wherever Jose went he tried to get Carvalho, because he knows he's going to drown if he plays for another manager. The worst player that you could ever have in your team from Monday to Friday in training. The WORST trainer EVER! He's like a 10-year-old, when you're talking to them and their mind is [elsewhere]... He was just not there. The worst trainer. Monday comes [and Jose would shout] "Ricky! Ricky! Ricardo! Go home!", and then he'd send him home. [Carvalho would reply] "But I'm here!"... "Just go home." Dreamy, dopey, dosey, call it whatever you want. Not doing his job. But Mourinho knew, come Saturday he's playing. Man of the match: Ricardo Carvalho. For the life of me, I couldn't understand. This guy, sometimes you feel like he needs a slap so his brain would shake, and then he'd function, but we couldn't understand how he could do it. For one season, I've never seen anything like it, you know when they do the ratings? This guy never gets less than a 7.5/10.

Well that is something we never knew about a Champions League, Premier League, and of course, Euro 2016 winner.

It just goes to show how little we actually know about what is going on in training every day, as for a player like McCarthy to go as far as to claim that someone of Ricardo Carvalho's quality wouldn't have a career without Mourinho, it's something we never would have expected.

Currently playing for Shanghai SIPG after leaving Monaco back in January, we wonder if he's still the same in training there.

You can hear Benni McCarthy's fascinating interview with Graham Hunter below, and there's a second part available on his website and on SoundCloud too.