Farioli impresses Porto fans, already drawing comparisons to Villas-Boas | OneFootball

With a perfect record after seven matches in the dragon’s realm, Francesco Farioli has captivated the blue and white fans, who are celebrating a new FC Porto shaped by the Italian coach, particularly after a season to forget with Vítor Bruno and Martín Anselmi.

The sample size is still small to draw definitive conclusions, but the fact that he has achieved a feat that only André Villas-Boas had managed before—seven wins in his first seven games in charge—fuels expectations of success in Invicta and rekindles dreams of triumphs throughout the season: 2010/11 was, as a reminder, a memorable season for the club, with the conquest of the league, the UEFA Europa League, and the Portuguese Cup.

The parallels with the 2010/11 season, Villas-Boas’s only one at the helm, are evident. That season, the blue and whites also won their first seven matches—even reaching 11 consecutive victories—and the statistical indicators show great similarities.

Although that campaign began with the Super Cup (a 2-0 win over Benfica), Villas-Boas’s team also combined league matches with UEFA Europa League games in the opening rounds.

The current record is very similar: Farioli’s team has scored two goals fewer than AVB’s side (16 versus 18), but boasts a superior defensive performance (1 goal conceded versus 4).

So far, Porto have allowed only one goal—conceded at Alvalade, in the classic against Sporting in the 4th round (2-1)—curiously, the result of an own goal by Nehuén Pérez.

This defensive record is, in fact, unique in Europe: no team from the continent’s top leagues has conceded so few goals this season. Clubs like Roma, Celtic, Olympiakos, AEK, and PAOK have also conceded just one goal in their respective national competitions, but have already allowed goals in other tournaments.

Blue and whites among Europe’s elite

In the group of leagues with the highest UEFA coefficient, the dragons also stand out. Only four clubs have won every game they’ve played so far this 2025/26 season: Liverpool, Bayern, Real Madrid, and… FC Porto.

The Porto team will look to extend their winning streak on Monday, when they visit Serra da Freita to face Arouca, in a match for the 7th round of the league.

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