Chelsea midfielder Deco has spoken of his dismay and shock at the decision to sack manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The 31-year-old was signed in the summer by Scolari for £7.9million from Barcelona after the pair worked together at international level.
The former Porto ace was away on international duty when he heard the news as Portugal prepare for a friendly with Finland on Wednesday.
And he admitted the main reason he had been persuaded to move to Stamford Bridge was to play for Scolari.
"Scolari is a good coach and he should have been given more time to get the project right," he told the Daily Star.
"I was shocked when I heard the news, I almost could not believe it. The reason I came to Chelsea was to play for Scolari.
"He explained the ambitious project they had here and I decided to sign and rejected a lot of other offers."
Striker Didier Drogba also revealed his surprise.
The former Marseille man has not featured as much as he would have liked this season after failing to rediscover his form of previous campaigns.
"It's true results haven't been the best," he told the Daily Mirror.
"But we had time to put things right and enough fighting qualities, especially with our progression in the Champions League. But our bad results have been decisive.
"I didn't know much about the sacking. Someone called me and told me what had happened.
"When I left London no-one was talking about this happening. The club never spoke to the players."
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