FC Porto go in as favourites for the Portuguese Basketball Cup final four | OneFootball

FC Porto, champions in the last two editions, are the main favorites for the Portuguese Cup Final Four, which takes place this weekend in Albufeira. Benfica will not be present, having been eliminated in the round of 16 by Sp. Braga. With 16 trophies won, the Dragons begin their semi-final participation on Saturday at 4:00 PM, against Galitos.

“Expectations are good, especially considering the last four rounds, in which we showed some evolution in most situations. I expect nothing less than to increase our levels of concentration, aggressiveness, intensity, and focus on what is important to us. We are the winners of the Portuguese Cup for the past two years and we want to keep it close to us. That’s what we’re going to work for,” said Fernando Sá, Porto’s coach, to the club’s website, before looking at the opponent: “It’s going to be an extremely complicated game and it’s our only objective at the moment. It’s a very athletic, very versatile team that has had good shooting percentages. They are very intense defensively and have a starting five that can give them advantages at certain moments and can take away the fluidity of our attack, but we have been working towards making things go well for us.”

On the Galitos side, coach Henrique Pina was direct: “We arrived here with a lot of enthusiasm, ambition and, just like all the other teams present, we have a 25% chance of winning,” he said.

Then, at 7:00 PM, the other semi-final will take place between Sporting and Oliveirense. The Lions have won this competition eight times, most recently in 2021/22, while Oliveirense has one triumph in the competition, in 2002/03.

“This competition is of utmost importance. We are a club that likes to win, that works and invests to win titles, so it is very important. We are very motivated and interested in getting a good result in the semi-final so we can be in the final and fight for the title,” analyzed coach Luís Magalhães, to the Lions’ website, praising the opponent: “Against Oliveirense we expect the difficulties of a team that also wants to be in the final. The teams that reached the final four did so on merit and always want to go as far as possible. Oliveirense won a trophy last year [Hugo dos Santos Cup] and I believe they are very motivated to try to repeat that, because it always leaves a good taste.”

Regarding Oliveirense, coach João Figueiredo showed confidence: “It’s a game that is won in the details, it’s not a game that is won on paper, but by whoever executes better. We believe a lot in the collective commitment of our players, of the locker room, and in the work we do every day,” he emphasized.

In the previous edition, FC Porto beat Sporting in the final by 94-73. Two seasons ago, the Dragons defeated Benfica in the final by 81-78.

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