FC Porto gear up for Arouca but still trained in Salzburg | OneFootball

Almost 24 hours after their ‘smiling’ entry into the group stage of the 2025/26 Europa League – a 0-1 victory against Salzburg (thanks to a goal scored by William Gomes, three minutes into stoppage time) – FC Porto’s first team refocused on their trip to Arouca.

The blue and whites held a training session on Friday morning, on Austrian soil, led by Italian coach Francesco Farioli. According to the club, the players who started in the previous match “did active recovery work, while the less-used players trained as usual on the pitch.”

The only exceptions were Nehuén Pérez, who remains “under post-operative observation” after surgery to repair a complete rupture of the Achilles tendon, and Luuk de Jong, who only underwent “treatment” due to an internal lateral ligament injury.

It should be noted that both the Argentine international and the Dutchman did not travel to Austria with the rest of the squad and continued working at the Olival training center, so, apparently, they will be left out of the squad for the match that closes the seventh round of the Primeira Liga.

The Arouca–FC Porto match is scheduled for 8:00 pm (mainland Portugal time) on Monday, at the Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with refereeing by Fábio Veríssimo, from the Leiria Football Association.

The duel between Arouca and FC Porto was at risk of not taking place after the board led by André Villas-Boas threatened to file an injunction to suspend the match, which was rescheduled unilaterally by Liga Portugal due to the Harvest Festival taking place in the town of Aveiro next weekend.

The uncertainties were clarified on Thursday with a statement from the Dragons, in which the club criticized the decision of the entity chaired by Reinaldo Teixeira: “We must point out, however, that this decision by Liga Portugal is highly detrimental, not only to the legitimate interests of FC Porto, but also to the credibility and the very interests of Portuguese football, which are seriously compromised.”

“Even so, we are certain that our supporters, despite the match being played on a weekday and in Arouca, will know how to unite around the team and turn out in great numbers, once again demonstrating our strength and our unwavering commitment in defense of FC Porto,” the statement said.

Francesco Farioli’s team now faces a demanding cycle of three matches in seven days: Arouca (September 29, Estádio Municipal de Arouca), Red Star (October 2, Estádio do Dragão), and Benfica (October 5, Estádio do Dragão).

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