Bruno Pinheiro on FC Porto: “We need a perfect game and kind refereeing” | OneFootball

Bruno Pinheiro, Académico de Viseu’s head coach, previewed this Thursday the clash against league leaders FC Porto, scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Fontelo Stadium. Aware of how difficult it will be to host the reigning national champions, the coach still promises an ambitious team determined to cause problems for the Dragons, much like what happened in the away match at the Estádio da Luz.

Analysis of the opponent: “FC Porto are an extremely aggressive team defensively. It will be extremely difficult to keep long spells of possession, because FC Porto are a team that can switch from zonal defending to man-to-man defending in the blink of an eye, and they trigger their pressing cues very quickly. It will be difficult to have possession, and it will be a game that forces us into a lot of duels. If we win those duels, we increase our possession. If we lose them, we will definitely spend a lot of time without the ball.”

What is possible to control? “The playing process, obviously. Refereeing decisions are not controllable. Referees also have the right to make mistakes, just as we do, coaches and players, that’s not the issue. It will be very important to match or surpass FC Porto’s aggression. They are a team that knows that, in 90% of the matches they play in our league, they are clearly superior, and they use that to suffocate their opponents. We will try to create situations to find players with a little more time and space, which would allow us to breathe and find more favorable solutions going forward. It will force us to adjust our positioning very quickly, to move much faster to offer passing lanes than the opponent will have speed to press us, which is not always easy. Defensively, we will try to trigger some pressing cues, knowing that we cannot play the game in the same way as our opponent, with very high or overly aggressive pressing, because they are strong collectively and individually. We will have to show a certain defensive patience and wait for the right moments to try to win the ball back and break into attacking transitions that can make them uncomfortable. If we do not make them uncomfortable, they will keep tightening the screws more and more.”

Is the squad finalized? “I think that until the last day of the transfer window, anything can happen. Players can come in and players can leave. It is still too early to take stock. Let’s wait for the window to close, and then a different assessment can be made.”

Motivation to face the league leaders and reigning national champions: “We are going to face a team that does not concede goals and a team that always scores, but we always have the ambition to win. We are a humble group, but we are an ambitious group. We will try to play with the weapons we have, knowing that we will not be able to play the same game as our opponent. In my opinion, FC Porto are coming off their best performance of the season, but we will create a strategy that can make things harder for FC Porto than their opponents have managed so far. We hope, just as we did at the Luz, to create some different kinds of difficulties. We know we need to play a perfect match, we need them not to have much luck, and we also need favorable refereeing, without any major incidents.”

Importance of patience: “Above all, it is understanding that there will be many moments in the game when we will have to suffer. I think the players are prepared for that; they know the opponent very well. There will be moments when we will struggle a lot, and we will have to stand together, pool all our energy and all the strength we can, but also have the ability, whenever possible, to play. In the last game I think there was already a noticeable difference in the moments when we had the ball, because we were much more competent than we had been at home against Santa Clara. Defensively, there will be periods when FC Porto will pile on the pressure, but I think we will be able to protect our goal just as well as Porto protect theirs. That is what it comes down to: play whenever we have the chance, know how to play with the ball, and when we have to defend, be united and protect our goal well.”

Full house at Fontelo: “It is a source of joy and satisfaction to have a full house here at Fontelo, and I believe it will mostly be an Académico crowd. I am very pleased, very happy about that, and I think it is essential to feel the fans’ support. It is going to be a difficult league campaign, we will have difficult moments, and in those moments we are counting on their support.

Valery Fernández: “He is a versatile player on the pitch, who can play in different positions. He is an extremely competitive player with technical quality. He has a lot of matches in La Liga, which is an extremely difficult league, but it also has a style of play similar to what we are trying to do, a positional game. In theoretical terms, he already has an adaptation to the style of football we want to play, and he brings individual added value both in competitiveness and in the technical execution of his actions.”

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