Tiago´s heart bleeds for North Koreans

Portuguese midfielder Tiago said on Wednesday he felt sad for the North Korean players as they lived under a tough political regime.

The 29-year-old Atletico Madrid star scored twice in Portugal’s 7-0 hammering of the North Koreans in their World Cup Group G match on Monday, but he said his thoughts were more for the players and the consequences for them back in one of the most reclusive states in the world.

The game was shown live in the country – the first match to be broadcast live in over a year.

“It is a really tough political regime, I know that, but we are footballers and we give our best in each match,” said Tiago.

“I am sad for the North Korean players, because it is not easy when you concede so many goals, but we did our best to first win and if possible to score a lot of goals.”

Tiago, who won the inaugural Europa League trophy last term with Atletico, also revealed that Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo had made a touching gesture after the Real Madrid star had been named man of the match against the North Koreans.

“It was a really nice gesture by Cristiano Ronaldo which I had not been expecting,” said Tiago, who numbers Chelsea and French side Lyon among his former clubs.

“When I got back to the dressing room, I saw the man of the match trophy in my place and he told me he had put it there because I deserved it more than he did.

“That was a really good thing the captain did and it really touched me to the bottom of my heart. It is not every day that one gets such an award.”

Tiago said that he would rather not face European champions Spain in the second round – which they would if the Portuguese were to finish second in their group and Spain top it or vice versa if they were to edge Brazil in the group and the Spanish finish runners-up in theirs.

“I would prefer not to. Truthfully, Spain is a superb team, but for the moment our sole interest is to beat Brazil (in their final group match on Friday) and finish top of the group. After that we will see.

“We want to finish top of what is a very strong and difficult group.

“In the final match, our destiny is in our hands. We are going into the match with Brazil with the intention of winning and finishing top of our group.”

Brazil need just a point to finish top of the group while Portugal have to beat them to top it – Ivory Coast have to beat North Korea by a huge scoreline and Portugal lose if the African side are to snatch second spot.