Porto might seem the easy option in the Champions League quarter-finals draw - and Chelsea may well be glad to have been paired with them - but such an impression could be misleading. With Sergio Conceicao in charge it appears nothing is impossible, as the last-16 return leg at Juventus showed perfectly.
Porto initially wasted their advantage, conceding two quick goals at the beginning of the second half, and then had striker Mehdi Tarami harshly sent off. Yet they refused to surrender and prevailed in extra time.
Conceicao never raises the white flag; the 46-year-old coach is a warrior and a supreme motivator.
His intensity has been irritating to opposition teams and coaches. Conceicao loves a good fight. The games against Manchester City at the group stage were ill-tempered and the Porto boss openly criticised his 'unpleasant' adversary after losing 3-1 at Etihad Stadium in October.
“I’ve got a lot to learn from Pep Guardiola – the way he pressures referees, the way he talks to opposition players and the opposition dugout. He’s a fantastic example to follow. Today we were angels compared to them,” he said.
Some Porto fans have been unhappy with such an approach but most of them love his character.
"They see him as a homegrown guy with the authentic Porto mentality – very passionate, very intense, very proud. There are claims that he is all about attitude and not sophisticated enough, but those are minority," Tribuna Expresso journalist Lidia Paralta Gomes says.
His previous coaching spells never lasted more than a year, and the 2015-16 season at Braga ended in a huge public spat with the president Antonio Salvador. The club statement mentioned "the coach's conflicting, authoritarian and aggressive character" as the reason for his dismissal. That mentality, however, is key.
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After winning the league and cup double last season, he told Tribuna Expresso: "Success is about rigour, discipline, some non-conformity. Some people think it is normal to win every now and then, but I am different. I always have to win.
“I have always been like that - competitive and uncompromising, even with my friends and my family. I am very honest and forthright. It irritates me when people are not honest.”
Neither has Conceicao forgotten his roots. He was the seventh child out of eight, born to a poor family who didn’t always have enough food on the table. In summer, when asked to take part in a project to assist people during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, he sent astonishing amounts of food to 10 families in a matter of hours.
"We spoke to him at night, and he asked for the addresses of the families. The next day, when I woke up, around nine o'clock, I already had messages from several families with photographs of the deliveries," project manager Ibrahim Cassama said.
“We are talking about a supermarket for each family, something surreal. He even called people to ask if they needed anything more. I have never seen anything like this."
He speaks of ‘darkness’ as a motivating factor. He lost his father at the age of 16 in a motorcycle accident, just days after he convinced him to let him sign for the Porto academy. His mother, who had paralysis on one side of her body, died two years later.
"I am never 100 per cent happy. There is a dark side inside me, and it will never leave,” he told Tribuna Expresso.
He has never chosen an easy path in his coaching career either. His first job in 2012 was at tiny Olhanense, and he took the team from the relegation zone in mid-season to a comfortable mid-table finish.
He repeated the trick at Nantes, who were on their way down when Conceicao arrived in December 2016, and dragged them to seventh in the final Ligue 1 table.
Conceicao’s decision to take over at Porto at the most problematic time imaginable, in the summer of 2017, was bold but he enjoyed immediate success against all odds.
The Dragons were forced to sell young starlet Andre Silva to AC Milan at the time but couldn't sign a replacement – or make any acquisitions whatsoever – due to a Financial Fair Play punishment.
Benfica were clear favourites to retain the Primeira Liga title, but Conceicao had other ideas and Porto ran away with the trophy in his debut season. They boasted the best attack, the best defence and finished seven points clear of their rivals from Lisbon. It was a truly remarkable achievement and the coach was the club's biggest star.
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“Behind every serious and disciplined coach there is also a great person. During the three years with Conceicao I came to know a man who demands the maximum. He always wants to win and transmits this will to his players,” goalkeeping legend Iker Casillas has said, despite a prolonged spell on the bench under Conceicao after a fallout.
An industrious and inventive winger in his playing days, he was never the most gifted of footballers. He had to go on three loan spells - to tiny Penafiel, Leca and Felgueiras - before getting his chance at Porto in 1996.
He won two titles in two seasons there and was sold to Serie A giants Lazio. In a star-studded dressing room, he proved himself and he held his own among personalities like Diego Simeone, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Roberto Mancini.
Conceicao won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999, the league and cup double a year later, and went to Euro 2000 with Portugal – albeit only as a substitute.
However he scored a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Germany to seal a place in the starting line-up right through to the 2002 World Cup. By the time Euro 2004 came on home soil, Conceicao's fitness was on the wane. Injuries were quite frequent during his spells at Parma, Inter and Lazio again.
He returned to Porto in January 2004 to get ready for the European Championship but was ignored by national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. However, he had a few months of learning under Jose Mourinho, before the Special One moved to Chelsea.
His own style is unique; Conceicao doesn't follow any of his former mentors specifically. He is tactically astute - his teams are usually well-organised defensively, even though the emphasis is on attacking play.
Players who listen to him tend to make significant progress; witness the improvements in Mexican winger-cum-defender Jesus Corona and the centre-forward Moussa Marega who have flourished under his guidance.
Conceicao is a unique personality with a unique life story. His team are capable of sensational results. After sending Cristiano Ronaldo out of the Champions League, they could surprise Chelsea as well.
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