Farioli: “We pushed Sporting to the limit and they used every trick” | OneFootball

Statements from FC Porto coach, Francesco Farioli, in the press room at the Estádio do Dragão, after the goalless draw against Sporting in the second leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals:

At the end of the game, the stadium started chanting for Porto to be champions. What did you feel?

«What I told the players was to be proud of the performance. We prepared the game to be brave, to go all out, and I think that, against a great team like Sporting, with great players, back-to-back champions and three-time champions in the last four years, we are talking about a top team, and today we pushed them to the limit and they had to use every possible trick to stop a team like ours. We deserved at least to score a goal, but we have to accept the result and turn the page.»

Is winning the league a must?

«I’ve already said that we are here to complete a mission. We started from a long way back and sped up the process in terms of where we are and where we were. It happened faster than all of us expected. When we started here, what was asked of us was to try to close the gap to the other two big clubs after a difficult season, and today we are, at least in the league, where we want to be. And we came close to reaching the Cup final and the Europa League semi-finals. Now we have games to play, lots of points, challenges ahead of us, and we will focus on what is in front of us. Next is Estrela, a match on a difficult ground; we have to prepare as best as possible. We have only a few games left, but they are important.»

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