Diogo Dalot's quest for perfection

Diogo, you were nominated for the Premier League’s Goal of the Month award for your winner at Sheffield United in October. Where does that rank among the goals you’ve scored for United?
“It’s probably so far the best of my career. But I mean it was special because of the moment that it was. We were needing a goal to win the game and the celebration after the goal with the fans was incredible. All combined, I think it was a perfect way to do it.”

It looked like you enjoyed it – your celebration showed how much it meant…
“It was a release of energy and emotions because, it was a sad day, a sad moment for everybody at the club [after Sir Bobby Charlton’s passing], and we had to find a way to put the emotion on the side and try to find a way to win the game, and I think we did it. That was the most important thing. Then when you have the chance to celebrate, you just have to celebrate with those you love and we all together as a team celebrated with the fans. It was special.”

The goals are being shared around a lot among the defenders and midfielders in the team; does that show that people are stepping up at the right moments?
“Yeah, it shows first that we have the ability to do it. All the players who are here have goals in their locker. Then it’s about defining in those moments to have the quality to score goals. So we just show that we are a proper team. We have not just 11 players. We have a lot more to come into the team and to score goals and give their help. I believe we have shown that in recent games.”

You and the rest of the team has been working with a new goalkeeper this season. When Andre Onana made that penalty save against FC Copenhagen last month you were all celebrating with him – could you tell it meant a lot to him after a difficult start?
“Yeah, it was a big moment. We’ve been speaking a lot these last few weeks and he’s a strong character, strong mentality. He loves to work. So it was just a matter of time for him to show his qualities and to be decisive for the team. With the help of the team-mates and from the manager as well, he’s got everything to come back stronger and he had opportunities in the game. Then I think it’s been progressively coming well and he showed that he could save them.”

How do you reflect on our recent form in general?
“I think when you play for this club, there’s always space for improvement. You will never be enough to get to the perfect level. We are always trying to find perfection. But when you win it’s obviously easier to go forward than when you’re losing. And that’s what gives us confidence to keep going, build some momentum and try to keep it for the next games.”

From a personal perspective, you’ve played in most of the games this season. Obviously we’ve had quite a lot of injuries at the back. How difficult has that been balancing playing with different players, not to mention, in your case, deputising at left-back a few times?
“It’s part of the job. I’m here to help the team, being as fit as I can and to be available for every game. Fortunately, I’ve been fit enough to do it and hopefully I can continue like that, but it’s just being ready to adapt to any situation and whether it’s on the left or with different team-mates, the most important thing for me is playing.”

Do you think there are lessons we can take from last season as well? We didn’t start too well but obviously recovered and won a trophy and finished in the top four…
“Yeah, I mean obviously you’re going to have time to progress during a season. When you don’t start the way that you probably wanted, that means that there’s something that you have to do better. And last season can be an example for us, during that season we went progressively upwards. And we just have to keep in that mentality, but knowing that we have space for improvement.”

So are there any differences in the way we’re trying to play this season that you’ve seen and accommodating the new players in the system as well? Is that taking a little time to bed in?
“I think it’s pretty similar, the ideas of the manager. It’s pretty similar. Now it’s just about putting it into the games. You have to find ways to win football games, and we’ve been doing that. That’s one of the good positives that we’ve been showing. When we don’t play as we probably should, we still have to win games, because I think we have had games this season that we actually played really good, but we didn’t win. So this is the type of balance that we need to get: play well and win games.”

Even if we haven’t been playing well, there have been a couple of memorable games at Old Trafford. Are those wins more cherished in a way, because you’ve got to go through the late drama to win them?
“It’s a different feeling because obviously who doesn’t like emotion in the final moments like that in the game? I think that’s what football is about. But for us, I obviously prefer to have a more controlled game and win it a little bit more comfortably. But when you can’t do that, we just have to win and it’s special when you win like this at Old Trafford.”

Away from United, you’ve qualified for the Euros with Portugal. You only made your debut two years ago, but this will already be your third tournament, so you’re not doing too badly so far…
“Yeah, hopefully. I mean we’ve been doing well. We have a great team, scoring a lot of goals and we’ve conceded just two if I’m not mistaken. So this is a good moment for us, but we still have some time now to prepare for the Euros, and hopefully we can arrive there in the best shape possible.”

How do you tend to relax away from football? Is downtime really important to have?
“Now that I’ve been playing every three days, I have to do the same things every day, recover when I’m at home and train when I’m here. So it’s almost the same routine because I want to be ready physically. So you have to spend a lot of time recovering. And it’s part of the job. So for me, it’s my daily routine. So I like to do it, but it is what it is. And I’m just very happy to be in that position.”

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