Any Man Utd fan watching Cape Verde’s Africa Cup of Nations clash against Ghana would have seen a familiar face
He is Tiago Manuel Dias Correia popularly known as Bebe
When Manchester United signed Bebe, then just turning 20, it was a bolt from nowhere. He had played a single season in the Portuguese second division. The United manager, Alex Ferguson, had endorsed the transfer almost entirely on the recommendation of his trusted former second-in-command, Carlos Queiroz.
It was not an easy time to join United, either, a year after they had sold a superstar Portuguese winger – one with Cape Verdean heritage, as it happens – named Cristiano Ronaldo. And Bebe was no Ronaldo. When he played, he could look very raw.
By the time he turned 21, United deemed Bebe not ready for the first team. Out he went on loan: to Besiktas, to Rio Ave and Pacos de Ferreira. He signed for Benfica in 2014. They lent him elsewhere: to Cordoba, to the Madrid club Rayo, where eventually he would find a place to call home, where fans would cheer him long and loud as one of their favourites.
Fast forward many years after Bebe still playing though deep into his thirties led Cape Verde to record the first upset of the tournament a win over Ghana’s Black stars
They embark on their fourth Africa Cup of Nations finals and it is a measure of their rise that they were Afcon debutants only 11 years ago, yet would regard not reaching the knockouts, even from a group including Ghana, Sunday’s opponents, and Egypt as falling short.
But Cape Verde are still minnows in some respects. The squad are in economy class en route to Ivory Coast – other, wealthier national teams would be seated at the front end of the cabin – but evidently relishing the adventure.
There’s no disguising that Bebe, enjoying a successful eighth season at Rayo Vallecano of Spain’s top division, is the squad’s figurehead. He speaks to eagerly curious passengers in fluent Spanish and English. Younger teammates direct their banter, in Portuguese, at him, seeking his approval.
His nickname, meaning ‘Baby’ and given to him as a child, has certainly outlasted its logical lifespan. Bebe, at 33, is very grown-up, a man who has known hard extremes on the way to a top-flight club career and now the added, late bonus of a first major international tournament.
Like most of the Cape Verde squad, he was born outside the islands to parents with Cape Verdean heritage. It’s a typical story because the overseas diaspora outnumbers the small population – less than 600,000 – of residents.
It took a long while for Bebe, who had played a handful of times on the wing for the under-21s of his native Portugal, to get through Fifa’s bureaucratic procedures to establish his eligibility.
“He was persistent,” recalls the team’s manager, Pedro Leitao ‘Bubista’ Brito, “and these things can be a painful ordeal. I saw how determined he was.”
And there were complications in neatly documenting Bebe’s family tree. He was born into difficult circumstances, left by his parents as an infant in the care of a grandmother and then social services.
Among the extensive tattoos on Bebe’s six-foot-three frame is the word Gaitao, the name of the orphanage where he spent almost a decade. “It’s where I learnt you have to work hard for everything,” he reflected after touching down in Ivory Coast.
