Beto backs FC Porto to reach the Europa League final | OneFootball

The decisive stage of the season has already arrived and FC Porto remain involved in all the competitions they are taking part in, with a real chance of aiming for the treble, something that has not happened since 2010/11, when they won the Primeira Liga, the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League.

By coincidence, or perhaps not, the coach from that memorable era in Porto’s history is now the club’s president, since André Villas-Boas was responsible for that historic and rare achievement in Portuguese football.

The man who experienced that period up close within the blue-and-white club was Beto Pimparel, who was part of the 2010/11 squad and knows well what it feels like to win the Europa League, a competition he won four times, three of them with Sevilla, in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Speaking exclusively to Desporto ao Minuto, the former Portuguese goalkeeper gave his view on Francesco Farioli’s management of the Dragons, as well as on the possibility of FC Porto reaching a Europa League final.

The Dragons’ season has been marked by great intensity on the pitch, which has demanded a lot from the physical side of the team coached by the Porto manager. Even so, in recent matchdays the Italian coach has shown effective squad management, rotating more than half the team in consecutive games, leading Beto to highlight the quality of the signings made by the blue-and-white club in the transfer windows.

“FC Porto’s investment, both at the start of this season and in the winter transfer window, was very shrewd. André Villas-Boas gave Francesco Farioli solid options that have had a big impact on the team and give depth and room for the coach to manage the squad across all the fronts they are competing on,” Beto began.

“We’ve seen these six, seven or even eight changes from one game to the next, something André Villas-Boas also used to do in our season. From one game to the next, five would change, seven would change, but the dynamics were there, the players were motivated, the players felt they were part of a project, they felt their true importance within the squad. So when that is the case, it is much easier for a coach to take out six and put in six, knowing that the six coming in are just as motivated, if not more so, than the six going out,” he continued.

“Then there is also the question of quality here. I think FC Porto have managed to build a very balanced squad in every position. They are able to maintain that level of return, so to speak, even with major rotation from game to game,” assessed the former Portugal international.

The connection between president and coach in a football team is always decisive, and that has been evident. Villas-Boas and Farioli seem to be fully in sync and, for Beto, FC Porto can only benefit from that.

“I think this partnership between André Villas-Boas and Farioli started well and was built well. And from the moment it started well, there may be disagreements, there may be different opinions at specific moments, but I think there is a very good, very positive understanding between the president and the coach. So much so that in the winter market Farioli saw, and everyone could clearly see, an FC Porto side declining physically, having some physical issues,” said Beto, who sees this relationship as almost perfect.

The Europa League title can be won again

As a goalkeeper, few names are as closely linked to the Europa League honours list as Beto Pimparel’s. The Portuguese international won the competition four times, once with FC Porto and three times in a row wearing the Sevilla shirt.

Beto admits that the Dragons have what it takes to reach, at the very least, the final of the European competition, although he acknowledges that, from now on, every game of the season will carry the weight of a final.

“I believe so, especially because of the determination FC Porto show on every pitch. FC Porto have come through difficult challenges, namely the last game in Braga. So I believe FC Porto in the Europa League have the ability, the desire and the will to reach, at the very least, the final,” he said.

“Hopefully it would be possible to have those two teams meet in the final. If not, it is true that FC Porto now have an extremely difficult challenge against Nottingham Forest, and I think it is a good challenge for FC Porto. But this is what I always say: for teams to be champions, for teams to win trophies, they have to beat the best. To reach the finals, they have to beat the best,” reflected the former goalkeeper.

“From the moment teams look at these knockout ties as finals, the difference between the two teams narrows. Because motivation grows, desire grows, will grows. And so, from the moment teams reach these stages, they are true finals,” he concluded.

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