Farioli delighted at FC Porto: “This club was right for me” | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli attended an event organized by an Italian socio-cultural association in Porto and did not hide his satisfaction at being welcomed in the city “with great warmth”, even stating that the fact that his first title as a coach came while in charge of FC Porto “may not be a coincidence”.

In comments reproduced by Thursday’s edition of O Jogo, the 37-year-old coach said he hopes the Primeira Liga triumph was only “the beginning of a beautiful journey with this club, with these people and with those who follow FC Porto closely, whether at the stadium or from home”, explaining the success by what happens behind the scenes.

“In this environment, it is rare to find people with interests that go beyond the sporting sphere. Honestly, at our club, we have the opportunity to have a president who is a man of culture, a man of great curiosity, who has also known how to reinvent himself in various roles and carve out an extraordinary path up to this point,” he reflected.

The Italian coach also had high praise for André Villas-Boas, stating as a personal goal “to be able to contribute so that his years as president are filled with success and sporting achievements”, not least because he feels that, at the green-and-white club, he has “the real feeling of having arrived at the right place”.

“Many times it was said that I was the right person for this club, but let me reverse the sentence. This club was the right one for me. It was a pleasant and unique meeting in the world of football. I found directors, the president — with whom I built a very close relationship — and a very quick and short decision-making chain, which is different from what I experienced last year in Amsterdam with Ajax,” he added.

“Even if we played in a shirt of a different color, that wasn’t green or red, I would know it was FC Porto”

Turning to sporting matters, Francesco Farioli identified the 2-2 draw against Famalicão at the Estádio do Dragão on April 4, in the 28th round of the Primeira Liga, as the match that hurt him the most as FC Porto coach, in a game marked by Rodrigo Pinheiro’s goal deep into stoppage time.

“It was the ugliest game we played, it drained a lot of energy from us, and we scored in the 91st minute, and then they equalized in the 99th. It took the shout out of our throats a little, but in a season, it’s part of the game, and emotions are sometimes beautiful, other times not so much,” he confessed to those present.

As for his playing philosophy, which earned him countless criticisms, he replied: “Between playing well and playing as a team, I always choose the second. My goal is not to hear people say that we are the most beautiful in the world, but rather that we are a recognizable team. Even if we played in a shirt of a different color, that wasn’t green or red, I would know it was FC Porto.”

In closing, he said he aspires “to leave a legacy” in football, “something for the few, for the greatest”: “It is something for people who truly changed football, like Guardiola and Cruyff, or Arrigo Sacchi, to mention a fellow countryman. It is a big ambition, perhaps too big for me right now, but history belongs to those who have the strength and the ability to leave a legacy.”

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