Andre Villas-Boas ready for Dakar Rally challenge

Former Shanghai SIPG football club coach Andre Villas-Boas says he will be happy just to make it to the finish line when he fulfils a lifelong ambition of competing in the Dakar Rally.

Villas-Boas will emulate his uncle, Pedro Villas-Boas, who participated in the race in the early 1980s, when the 40th Dakar Rally begins in Lima, Peru, on Saturday, reports Xinhua.

He will drive a Toyota Hilux alongside fellow Portuguese Ruben Faria, who was second in the motorcycle category in the event's 2013 edition.

But while Faria knows all about the challenge of competing in the gruelling off-road race, Villas-Boas says he is learning on a "daily basis".

The 40-year-old former Chelsea manager only began preparing for the rally after parting ways with Shanghai SIPG in November.

"Yesterday was the first time that we went out on the dunes in the car," Villas-Boas told a press conference. "We are happy, but there were lots of difficult moments for me.

"I have asked a lot about the dunes and the desert. People with no experience like me can get to the top of a dune without knowing what's on the other side and take the foot off the pedal, which is one of many mistakes you can make."

This year's event will comprise 14 stages and cover almost 9,000 km in three countries before ending in the northern Argentine city of Cordoba on January 20.

Villas-Boas, whose coaching career took off after he guided Porto to the 2011 UEFA Europa League title at the age of 33, said he hopes to return to football in June.

--IANS

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