Home
Ricardo Santos is ready to play a captain’s role in the biggest week of his Wanderers career to date.
The big defender is ready to lead the team out on Sunday in the Papa Johns Trophy final but knows getting the build-up to the big day at Wembley just right will be equally important.
More than 33,500 Wanderers fans will be travelling down to London for the final, where Wanderers start as marginal favourites with the bookmakers despite Plymouth Argyle’s lofty position in League One.
Manager Ian Evatt is trying to keep preparations on the training ground as normal as possible, and though Bolton will be carry the hopes of the town on to the pitch, Santos says he is ready to help his manager keep the pressure off his team-mates.
“I have got a big job to do,” he told The Bolton News. “There are a few lads who have played there, quite a lot of us who haven’t, so we have to be prepared for the game and keep things like we would normally do.
“It is a big situation for everyone and there will be a lot of fans down there who have paid money for travel, for tickets and staying over. We owe it to them to give everything out there on the pitch.
“But we owe it to ourselves as professionals as well because you just don’t know when you are going to get to play at Wembley again. Some players with good careers have never played there.
“We can’t let the occasion take us over, and I have to help the lads with that. We have to stay calm, train well, be focussed and enjoy the game. If we do that, the best will come out of us.”
Santos says the opportunity to wear the captain’s armband in a cup final for Bolton will stand as his crowning achievement in football so far.
The defender grew up on the opposite side of London and says he dreamed of playing in a cup final at the famous stadium.
“Leading the team out at Wembley will be the top thing I have done in my career, I think, an amazing experience,” he said.
“We want to go there and win, of course, bring the trophy back home. But even if we don’t, it has been an achievement to get to the final and it will be an honour to lead the boys out there.
“When you are kid, it’s the place you want to play. A lot of good players don’t ever get that chance, so I want to make mine count.”
Source
