Farioli in experiment mode, FC Porto youngsters under coach's eye | OneFootball

The competitive break that closes out September and extends into the first days of October marks the first interruption of the season for clubs. For some coaches, this period allows them to recover injured players and reinforce working routines, despite the usual international call-ups. For others, however, the lack of competition can interrupt a positive run for their teams.

FC Porto fall into the latter scenario. Aside from the defeat against Manchester City, the national champions have recorded seven wins in seven matches played in the Primeira Liga. Although the rest is necessary, Francesco Farioli would likely have preferred a shorter break and fewer absent players.

After a few days off, the blue and whites returned to training on Monday without 11 players, all away on international duty for their respective national teams: Diogo Costa (Portugal), Victor Froholdt (Denmark), Trofim Melnichenko (Belarus), Jan Bednarek, Jakub Kiwior and Oskar Pietuszewski (Poland), Inbeom Hwang (South Korea), Pablo Rosario (Dominican Republic), Santiago Gimenez (Mexico), João Afonso (Portugal U21) and Dominik Prpić (Croatia U21).

In addition to the internationals, the Porto coach also has several players under medical supervision. João Costa, Nehuén Pérez, Seko Fofana and Gabri Veiga are undergoing treatment and gym work, while Martim Fernandes, Zaidu, Vasco Sousa and André Miranda are doing modified training.

Team B expected to play a bigger role in A Coruña

Given the high number of unavailable players, including those called up to youth national teams, Francesco Farioli has turned to members of the B team to complete the training group. These players are expected to make up a significant part of the squad that will travel on Friday to the Estadio Municipal de Riazor in Galicia for the friendly against Deportivo La Coruña.

Cláudio Ramos, Martim Fernandes, Francisco Moura, João Souza, Alan Varela, Zaidu and Samu could use the match in Spain to get some minutes. The same applies to Tiago Silva, João Teixeira and Luís Gomes, who have been regularly used by the B team this season. Summer signing Gabriel Mec could also make his debut in a Dragons shirt.

Among the players more closely linked to Porto’s secondary side are also names such as Gabriel Verón, the former Palmeiras player, Eirik Granaas, also signed in the summer, Anhá Candé, Kauê Rodrigues and Hjalte Froholdt, brother of Victor Froholdt.

On Friday, the Dragons will once again face the opponent they beat in the 2004 Champions League semi-final, a competition they would go on to win in Gelsenkirchen. The most recent meeting between FC Porto and Deportivo La Coruña was also a friendly, in the 2017/18 season, and ended in a 4-0 Porto victory, with goals from Aboubakar, twice, Corona and Marega, in the members’ presentation match.

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