Farioli: “We must keep the same underdog spirit, it’s FC Porto’s DNA” | OneFootball

“It’s the second pre-season at FC Porto, so there is already mutual understanding. Will the level of demand be different? What can you say? “It’s a mix. Having already had a year here working is an advantage. We know the players in detail. We can move forward faster than last season, although we also had to do it quickly at that time. This year is different in that respect. But there is also the challenge of maintaining the high standard and raising it even further. When we know someone very well, there is a risk of going into autopilot, and we want to avoid that. It was good to go back to basics and then build our processes again, adding some things that will be important for next season.”

FC Porto maintains continuity, Benfica changed coach, Sporting had many changes… Does FC Porto start with an advantage? “I’d say we start from zero again. The past is the past. Last season should serve as a warning. When I arrived here, no one expected us to be capable of getting results so quickly. It proves that if you work well and are able to connect all the dots, you can make up for any possible disadvantage. We start from zero. What we achieved is history. The trophies are in the museum. We have greater responsibility because we are champions, but we have to keep the same underdog spirit, the spirit of a team that wants to challenge. That is our DNA, FC Porto’s historic DNA. That’s what we’re going to do again this season.”

He arrived, saw and conquered, becoming national champion. Is the bar even higher with the Champions League? Do you have even bigger goals? Have you spoken to the president about it? Are you following the Club World Cup? Diogo Costa has been one of the standout figures. Ready to lose him? “As for Diogo Costa… I don’t agree. His performances haven’t been quite as good as you say (laughs). Joking aside, we know how good he is. It’s no surprise at all. He is our captain and he will continue to be our captain. I spoke to him a few days ago. He was fully focused on the national team. Now he will have a few days of holiday and then he will come back to help us. Everything we did, the records and the trophies, is part of the past. If we make comparisons, last season we won 49 points out of a possible 51. It will be very difficult to do better, because the margin is very small. We cannot gain an advantage through comparisons. In a way, forgetting what we achieved has to be our mantra, but also remembering how we achieved it. All the players came back in fantastic shape. We set the bar very high and they returned very well. That shows they had a good break to recharge, but also that they worked very well for this pre-season.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.