Joao Mario has spoken on his delight having been included in the Portugual squad for their upcoming EURO 2020 qualifiers and explained the reasoning behind him leaving Inter for Lokomotiv Moscow.
“I am very happy to be back in the national team. It was a goal I had and that is why I changed teams. I wanted to be able to play and luckily I was called up,” he said in an interview with Portuguese broadcaster SIC.
“We have very important matches coming up, on Friday against Luxembourg and then Ukraine. We have the chance to win both games. I really believe in this team.
“I am working on making sure I get a place in the EURO 2020 team. I will have to play hard and well this season to be an option. We will see what happens.”
He then spoke on how life has been treating him so far since his move to Lokomotiv Moscow.
“My time in Russia is going well. I have played a lot and that is what I wanted most. In Russia I have no translators at the club but Éder helps me a lot, anyway, the language of football is what we all speak on the pitch. I wanted to play and feel good again. I wanted to compete, so I changed teams.”
