Farioli wants no talk of a party: “Just 3 points and one game less…” | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli left satisfied with FC Porto’s win over Tondela, but with no room for premature excitement. In the press room, the Dragons’ coach highlighted the team’s strong start, emphasized the weight of the collective over individual performances, and shut down any talk of early celebration in the title race. Above all, he delivered a clear warning and assurance: “it’s only 3 more points.”

At a stage of the season when every result seems to invite calculations, Francesco Farioli chose a different path. The FC Porto coach spoke pragmatically after the win, refusing to treat the step as decisive and insisting on an idea that ran through the entire press conference: absolute focus on what comes next, with no dazzlement and no distractions.

Asked about the way the team started the match, Farioli said he was pleased with FC Porto’s immediate response and with the way the game was built. His reading was one of control, initiative, and efficiency at the start of both halves.

“Yes, I think so,” he said. “Besides the penalty, we had two or three chances. We approached the second half in the best way and I’m very happy with the result we achieved.”

More than a generic endorsement, the response underlines a team switched on from the outset and capable of steering the match without losing its competitive edge. It was, essentially, the first portrait of a night in which Farioli preferred to look at the overall performance rather than dwell on euphoria.

When the focus shifted to the substitutions and, in particular, to Gabri Veiga’s introduction, the coach once again brought the conversation back to the collective functioning. There was individual praise, but without allowing the game to be reduced to a single name.

“Yes, but Pablo also came on well and the goal started with him, as did another move,” he explained. “But nothing comes down to one player. It is all the result of the collective and it is a collective result.”

It is a revealing formulation of the approach Farioli wanted to underline: acknowledging the impact of those who come on, without separating that impact from the whole machine. In that balance between individual merit and shared construction, the coach sketched out the night’s central message.

The inevitable question came next: with another win, does the title feel closer? Farioli was blunt and refused to feed any festive mood, preferring to keep the team tied to the immediate task and to managing the schedule still to be completed.

“The reality is that it’s only 3 more points and one less game to play, that’s all,” he stressed. “Now we’re going to analyse the derby and prepare for the Cup match. If we start thinking and doing the math that we only need this game and that one, we end up losing focus. As we saw today, there are no easy games and we cannot lose focus.”

The answer serves almost as a competitive manifesto: for Farioli, the danger begins the moment the objective turns into anxiety or calculation. Hence the insistence on focus, on the next task, and on refusing to turn an advantage into comfort.

As for the team’s competitive attitude, the coach broadened the analysis and linked this match to what he had seen previously. The demand, he made clear, is not just to show up well once, but to repeat behaviours and maintain consistency when the pressure increases.

“Already on Thursday [against Nottingham], our approach was fantastic even with ten men,” he analysed. “The real challenge is to keep repeating performances. Now we will have to come back from behind against a fantastic team. At our home, our fans will be very important. Then we will fight second by second and in the end we hope to turn it around.”

In Farioli’s view, attitude is not an emotional detail: it is a discipline that is worked on and repeated. And even after a victory that could have pushed the discourse toward enthusiasm, the coach preferred to keep FC Porto tied to what he considers essential — recover, prepare, and keep fighting, without losing sight of the fact that nothing is won ahead of time.

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