Alert! Farioli may have unexpected 'ace' for Benfica at the Dragão | OneFootball

Francesco Fariolimay have an unexpected "ace up his sleeve" ahead of hostingBenficaat the Dragão in the next Liga Portugal fixture. Porto beat Académica 2-1 in a training match held on Sunday morning at the CTFD Jorge Costa, in the aftermath of their emphatic 4-1 win over Casa Pia.

The warm-up match against the Coimbra side was played in two 30-minute halves, allowing for operational solutions to be tested. Borja Sainz opened the scoring in the 15th minute, but Amadou Condoul restored parity for the visitors in the 40th minute. The big news came in the second half with the arrival of Samu, who made it 2-1 in the 58th minute, making an immediate impact.

The Spanish striker played only 15 minutes, strictly following the protocol set out for his gradual return to action after a lengthy spell out. The progress shown on the pitch suggests that Farioli - who spoke about Benfica's growth - may have the "La Roja" international available for the clash scheduled for 8:30 pm on matchday seven of the league.

Throughout the test against Académica, the coaching staff used 14 players, including Cláudio Ramos, Martim Fernandes, Nehuén Pérez, António Ribeiro, Dominik Prpic, Souza, Alan Varela, Tiago Silva, Seko Fofana, Gabriel Mec, Duarte Cunha, Borja Sainz, Santiago Gimenez and Samu. The remaining squad members carried out recovery work in the gym and on the pitch.

Porto's medical report still includes João Costa, who is rehabilitating after surgery, Zaidu, who is undergoing treatment and gym work, as well as Victor Froholdt, Vasco Sousa, André Miranda and Oskar Pietuszewski, all on modified training.

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