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The fashionable hair, the bushy mustache, the socks that occasionally fell down the leg but had to go back up because they were often the target of opponents. This was Chalana and the differentiating factor that transformed it one of the best of all: the left foot That left foot was in itself a game that gave another magic to everything else because it had the peculiarity of being played by someone who was right-handed but with too much quality to choose from.
Born in Barreiro, a true hotbed of talent for national football among a working class that treated the ball for you, he still began his career listening to a “no” from CUF, but Barreirense was grateful for this wrong decision and He kept the little toy of the “tweezers”. As in almost everything throughout his career, Chalana only had to be there to be noticed and so he went to Benfica shortly after, still in training, given Sporting’s refusal to pay so much for a kid who might or might not work. It worked. And how. With the arrival in Luz, history began to be written.
Still 17 years old, he became the youngest to debut in the Championship, making the 3rd Ring happy, which was yet to be completed. Later, after a European Championship in 1984 where he confirmed as never before what he was capable of doing on an international level, he moved to Bordeaux and the money was used to complete that same mythical part of the old Estádio da Luz. The little genie became Chalanix, main protagonist along with Jordão of a team that reached the semifinals of another great competition.
He still returned to the Reds three years later, ending his career between Belenenses and Estrela da Amadora, but the link with Benfica remained after hanging up his boots as youth coach, assistant and first team coach when required guarantee a transition period. Because that was his other brand image: always being there when the club in his heart needed him most. Fernando Chalana passed away this Wednesday at the age of 63.
Click on the images to see the photo gallery of Chalana’s entire journey as player and coach.
Source: Observadora
