Bednarek and the rivalry with Benfica: “I can’t use red hearts…” | OneFootball

Jan Bednarek, the experienced Polish centre-back, is about to begin another season at FC Porto, the club he joined in the last summer transfer window after leaving Southampton.

After the match against FC Alverca, in which he was once again included in the starting eleven, the 30-year-old spoke to Eleven Sports Polonia about various topics related to Portuguese football. The defender referred to the «rivalry with Lisbon», revealed that he cannot use red hearts, and highlighted the constant support of Porto fans throughout the year.

Jan Bednarek in his own words

Pre-season: «In my career, I’ve never had a pre-season where we trained this much, where we had to break mental barriers. It was very tough, however, it shows that hard work pays off. No one complained; we knew our objective.»

Match against Torreense: «The pitch was tragic in that game. On television it didn’t look that bad, but we were on the pitch the day before the match and it was ten times worse. On the morning of the game they painted the grass, so the visual effect on television wasn’t that bad.»

Size of the club: «You feel the greatness of the club every day. The other day, we went to a market to buy fresh fish and some older people applauded me as I walked past one of the stalls. That shows people’s passion. It’s not just the young people, but the older people as well.»

Pressure: «There is enormous pressure here, but that helps us, because people love the club. I think we’ve shown that in many difficult moments on the pitch. Even when things aren’t going well, we fight, we are a united team and, as you can see, that helps a lot when it comes to winning.»

Rivalries: «I can’t use red hearts. It’s a bit funny. Sometimes, if you use a red heart, even if you try to take it as a joke, you feel a certain level of seriousness that you shouldn’t do it. We only send blue hearts. We also don’t talk about Lisbon, we don’t go to Lisbon, because Porto is fantastic.»

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