FC Porto hold another first-team/B team session, news at Olival | OneFootball

FC Porto once again brought together the A and B teams for a training session on the pitch at the Jorge Costa CTFD, in a session marked by the integration of Chris Smalling. The player trained with the group for the first time after being officially announced this Wednesday, on a day when several international players were absent. The Dragons also updated their medical bulletin ahead of the friendly against Deportivo de A Coruña.

According to the information released by FC Porto, the joint work between the two squads once again took center stage during a period affected by international call-ups. Chris Smalling was the main new face on the pitch, while the long list of absences helps explain the decision to bring together the A and B teams.

Between senior national teams and youth levels, several players were unavailable for the session. The club detailed the absences, covering members of both squads.

“Diogo Costa (Portugal), Jan Bednarek, Jakub Kiwior and Oskar Pietuszewski (Poland), Victor Froholdt (Denmark), Inbeom Hwang (South Korea), Pablo Rosario (Dominican Republic), Santiago Gimenez (Mexico), João Afonso (Portugal Under-21) and Dominik Prpić (Croatia Under-21) are with their respective national teams. Also absent were the international players Trafim Melnichenka (Belarus), Domingos Muxito (Angola Under-23), Gonçalo Ribeiro and Martim Cunha (Portugal Under-20), Salvador Gomes, Bernardo Lima, Mateus Mide, Duarte Cunha, Cardoso Varela and Eduardo Ferreira (Portugal Under-19),” the official FC Porto statement reads.

The joint training session therefore came as a natural response to a situation with many absences. At the same time, it allowed Chris Smalling to begin working on the pitch with his new group.

With a friendly against Deportivo de A Coruña scheduled for this Friday, FC Porto also provided a medical update. The list includes players from the main squad and the B team, spread across different recovery programs.

“The main squad’s medical bulletin still includes João Costa, Nehuén Pérez, Martim Fernandes, Zaidu, Seko Fofana, Vasco Sousa, Gabri Veiga and André Miranda — all on modified training. From the B team, Martim Chelmik (treatment), Emanuel Benjamín (post-operative monitoring), André Oliveira (treatment and gym work), Brayan Caicedo (modified training) and Mame Niang (treatment) are also under the care of the health department,” the club said.

The situation at Olival therefore combines the integration of a new player with a reduced group due to international duty and the medical bulletin. It is in this context that the A and B teams are sharing the pitch ahead of the friendly with Deportivo de A Coruña.

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