Rui Costa (ex-Fiorentina and AC Milan) spent the lionÂ’s share of his career in Italy and spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport about his plans for the future after returning to Lisbon greats Benfica in 2006.
“At the end of March I’ll be 36 years old and, even though it doesn’t seem so on the surface, it’s difficult to keep myself in shape for competition at this level”, O Maestro explained to the Italian reporter.
“I think that the most prudent decision would be to decide to retire and I’m 99% sure that at the end of the present season I’ll call it a day and hang my boots up”, he added, also going on to rule out a future role as Coach – although he’d like to stay linked to Benfica.
“On the bench there’s too much stress, but I’d like to stay on at Benfica in another function and will talk to the management there to see if we can come to an agreement for me to take up another role.”
