Botelho da Costa: "We’ll find space to hurt FC Porto" | OneFootball

After two consecutive defeats (against Nacional in the main competition and Fafe in the Cup), Moreirense hosts FC Porto on Monday at 8:15 PM, in the match that closes the 9th round of the Portuguese League. Coach Vasco Botelho da Costa wants to stop the dragons – who suffered their first defeat of the season in England, against Nottingham Forest, in the Europa League. "If I now say that FC Porto will also want to respond, I would say that this game would end in a draw and I would even accept that result. These are different conditions, of course, but I have to say that it's easy to be the coach of Moreirense this week because if the mindset isn't switched on for a game with this visibility, it will hardly be switched on for the others," stated the coach of the Minho team, emphasizing that the club is "going through some structural changes": "We want to create an identity here, that's what we are heading towards. It's factual to say that Portuguese football as a whole is well managed, now with Liga 3 bringing a rising level. We have good players and good coaches coming from there, and we should be satisfied."

Vasco Botelho da Costa acknowledges the difficulty of the confrontation with the blues and whites but aims to score points against the leader. "FC Porto is not just the club, so there might be a tendency to look at the numbers, with one goal conceded and having the best attack, but it's more about the team's quality of play and the speed the group imposes. They have the ability to be a versatile team, knowing how to play both long and short, so they are very competent. It's the most competent team in the championship, if the standings say so, we have to respect that. It will be a game where, at times, we won't be able to be the team we always want to be, and we will have to be the team that FC Porto allows us to be. It ends up being normal, given the quality of the opponent. We will find space to hurt FC Porto at certain moments. They have very good pressure all over the field, so we will draw a little from the game at Alvalade, where we were also pressured all over the pitch. With the right strategy, we will make it a good game tomorrow," he explained.

Nottingham Forest and Benfica are the only teams that have managed to halt FC Porto's momentum, and the Moreirense coach admits to being inspired by those opponents' approaches to explore potential weaknesses of the dragons. "Yes and no, because, in a way, it's good to understand that certain strategies work, but the players and the team are different, Moreirense won't have those players. On the other hand, we also feel that FC Porto may have some weaknesses, which can give us some insights on what to try. However, if I were in the position of FC Porto's coach, I would work on those weaknesses, that's what we do here. We have our strategy, according to our own team, regardless of whether they have lost or not, we cannot stray from our characteristics. We worked well and we are prepared," he assessed.

Faced with the two consecutive defeats, he was asked to what extent these setbacks shook the squad's confidence and could affect the game with the leader. "Because it's against FC Porto, I don't think it will. When we won consecutively, I came here to exercise that victories shouldn't influence us too much, we should also do the opposite. I will always position the five biggest clubs in the 1st League on a different level, it's almost like playing two championships. Honestly, we work so that this doesn't weigh on us, we looked at the game with Fafe and drew our own conclusions, understanding the process. We will have to step out of our comfort zone, but that's positive because we also want to be a very versatile team to have various weapons at our disposal," he concluded, adding that Kiko Bondoso remains injured and Schettine will undergo a final test in the morning training to check if he is fit to compete 100% against FC Porto.

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