FC Porto coach, Francesco Farioli, reiterated this Saturday, April 11, the importance of keeping the team focused in each game in the final part of the season, in order to maintain the leadership of the I Football League.
In the preview for the trip to Estoril Praia, which takes place on Sunday, the Italian coach downplayed the draw against Famalicão in the last round (2-2), at a time when the ‘dragons’ lead the championship with five points more than Sporting, second placed, although with one more game played.
“All games have their weight, but the focus is not on the consequences. What matters is that we are absolutely connected in the 45 days that we have left, at all times. From the outside, they try to build a narrative. If tomorrow’s game [domingo] not going well and everything collapsing, is something that helps to sell newspapers”, he stated, at a press conference, in Olival.
Regarding Estoril Praia, which FC Porto beat 1-0 in the first phase, Farioli anticipated a “very offensive” opponent and considered the ‘Canarinhos’ season “very positive”.
“If we do a general analysis, it is a team that has had a very positive season. They play very offensive football, with a lot of goals, and have one of the best attacks in the I League. It will be a complicated game. Enter with the right spirit and in the best shape”, he warned.
FC Porto is coming off a draw on Thursday against Nottingham Forest (1-1), in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, a match in which they wasted several scoring opportunities. The prolonged absences of strikers Samu and Luuk de Jong, due to injury, were once again highlighted by the coach.
“It is clearly an area to be improved and this became even more evident in the analysis of the game. The absences of Samu and Luuk de Jong are factual, but the team has sought to provide a collective response. It is time for everyone to try to compensate and increase the conversion percentage, which would already be a big step”, he said, also admitting “moments of frustration” among the fans in Moffi’s last performance.
In the European meeting, Martim Fernandes was injured, with a sprained right ankle, shortly after scoring an own goal that resulted in a draw, in the 13th minute.
“Of course, these two moments were not happy for Martim, but growth has to be overcome. Martim has already proven once that he can do that. When he returned from injury, he committed a penalty in Nottingham [terceira ronda da fase de liga da Liga Europa] and was expelled in Arouca. He had his lowest moment of the season and then shone for three months”, he pointed out.
In addition to the right-back, Samu, Luuk de Jong and Nehuén Pérez are missing from the match due to injury, while William Gomes is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
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