Local dog-groomer Sandra Lopes was going about her daily routine when she picked up a copy of the Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manhã’s pull out, Correio Mulher, and read that she had become the face of Euro 2004.
Keen football fans, Sandra and her boyfriend were so overjoyed after Portugal’s victory over England last week that they decided to join in the celebrations in Faro. In the time-honoured fashion of celebrating in Portugal, she hung out of her car window shouting “Por-tu-gal” over and over again, waving her national flag. It was while she was celebrating that, unbeknown to Sandra, she was snapped by a photographer from UK news agency Reuters. Since then she has seen her face on the pages of magazines and publications across Portugal, and even in France.
“I cannot believe it,” she laughed when The Resident recently photographed her after hearing about her new found fame. “I don’t think that I am at all photogenic, I actually don’t really like having my photograph taken,” she revealed. “When I first realised it was happening, I did start to think that maybe it was a joke, then I realised it was serious and I was actually quite nervous.” After a couple of days of photo shoots with the Correio da Manhã and a session with The Resident, Sandra’s nerves are gone and, on the day of going to press, was looking forward, with fingers crossed, to Portugal’s next big game against Holland.
