Seduction and salvation: why Philippe Coutinho's Vasco years add another layer of intrigue to El Clásico

Eurico Miranda is not one to bite his tongue when something has irked him, and this passed his irritation threshold with plenty to spare.

"Real Madrid sought out the player's family, making offers that were too good to turn down," seethed Vasco da Gama's blowhard president. "But they were illegal. We want to make clear that this is no way to act."

He called it a "crime of seduction" and reported Los Merengues to Uefa and Fifa.  There was an element of theatre to it all – of irony, too, given Miranda's notoriously patchy moral record – but his resolve was true: he would not be selling his prized asset on the cheap. Well, not to Madrid, anyway.

10 years have passed since Vasco's death dance with the Bernabéu juggernaut, and while tales of tapping-up have long since lost their power to shock, this particular tangle does provide a nice alternative backstory to this weekend's Clásico.

Read all about it on the Independent website.