WHEN RICARDO MET DAMIEN

Chelsea legend Carvalho recalls his Bridge spell with Duffer

- Mark MCCADDEN

TEAMWORK: Carvalho and Damien Duff were key parts of Jose Mourinho's first great Chelsea side

NO MATTER how slowly Damien Duff spoke to him, as they sat next to each other in the dressing room, Ricardo Carvalho still couldn't understand what his new Chelsea teammate was saying.

But on the pitch, during a glorious Premier League-winning campaign together, nothing got lost in translation.

During Carvalho's early days in English football, following his move from Porto to Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese defender struck up a friendship with his new Irish teammate.

"What I remember was sitting beside him and how that was important, because I started to listen more to English," he told the Irish Daily Star.

"I remember he used to joke, he had an old Jaguar and I was like, what's that?

"But it was only for one year, unfortunately, and he went to Newcastle after that."

These days Carvalho is Portugal's assistant manager, while Duff is taking some time out after a hugely successful first spell in senior management with Shelbourne.

The former Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid defender sat down with the Star in Portugal's team hotel on the morning of last month's World Cup qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.