Augusto Inácio: “Varandas’ remarks kept fuelling FC Porto’s ambition” | OneFootball

Regarding what could turn out to be a modest season for the Lions in terms of trophies, Augusto Inácio, a former title-winning coach with Sporting, recalled statements made by the Alvalade club’s president in recent months.

“So wasn’t it president Frederico Varandas who said Sporting were going to win three titles in a row, and that FC Porto were afraid, and that FC Porto play no football? Frederico Varandas kept fueling FC Porto’s ambition with those words. Only those who don’t know that club fail to realize that every time people talk like that, they only grow stronger. And of course they make even more of it, because that becomes a source of motivation for the difficult matches FC Porto also have. And the truth is they have been winning games without playing well, in an aesthetic or technical sense, but by playing with grit, determination, desire, and hunger. That is what has been saving FC Porto,” the Portuguese coach stressed.

“Still regarding president Frederico Varandas’s words, the side that ended up under more pressure was Sporting, who had to win every game, because FC Porto were leading the league and, in truth, gave no chances away. Sporting have reached this decisive stage of the season, I believe, where everyone is already thinking, ‘Let this end now, we want to go on holiday,’ because the players are completely exhausted, as they say in football slang,” he concluded.

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