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PORTSMOUTH ace Christian Burgess is seeking some Samba inspiration to fire Kenny Jackett’s men into the Championship.

Defender Burgess made a summer pilgrimage to Brazil to help get in the mood for the new season.

Burgess, 26, said: “Flamengo were playing Emelec, from Ecuador, in the South American version of the Champions League.

“It was amazing. I saw it in the Maracana which was amazing because it’s obviously a massive stadium.

“The atmosphere was crazy – the Brazilians are mad!

“Out in Brazil, the Maracana was full an hour before kick-off and the fans were just jumping off their seats and singing.

“You can have a drink in the stand as well. It’s a bit like baseball in America.

“They have people going up and down the stairs selling beers and you can call them over.

“The trip inspired me to achieve our goals for the season ahead.”

Pompey narrowly missed out on promotion last season and the experienced Jackett wants to go one better this time around.

They kick off at home to Luton tomorrow and Jackett said: “We have to get the maximum out of everything we have.

“You have to punch above your weight. You have to over achieve and why shouldn’t it be us to go up?

“Teams over achieve quite often and we feel we have the potential to do that.”