FC Porto train in the Netherlands before trip to Famalicão | OneFootball

FC Porto will kick off their preparations for the trip to Famalicão with a session on Friday morning in the Netherlands, following the 1-1 draw at Stadion Galgenwaard against Utrecht.

Italian coach Francesco Farioli will conduct a mostly recovery training session in the Dutch city, where the team played the fourth matchday of the Europa League group stage; the return flight to Portugal is scheduled for 1:45 PM (Portuguese mainland time).

This decision was made by the blue and white structure due to the short interval between competitions, as the visit to the Municipal Stadium of Famalicão, in Minho, is scheduled for 6:00 PM on Sunday, complying, ‘in extremis’, with the 72-hour regulatory rest period.

After the defeat at City Ground against Nottingham Forest (2-0), FC Porto could not afford to ease up, but that is exactly what happened: in the 48th minute, Miguel Rodríguez put the Dutch ahead after a quick free-kick.

The equalizing goal came just 17 minutes later, by Borja Sainz, in a play that ended with the expulsion of the opposing goalkeeper, the Greek Vasilios Barkas, who lost his composure and assaulted Gabri Veiga. In the post-match press conference, Francesco Farioli explained what went wrong.

“Utrecht is very strong, with very tall central defenders. We reached the area many times and could have scored. The goal was to win the game and the performance was good, in the first half we had three or four clear chances, we conceded almost nothing. Then, we paid the price for losing concentration at this level. It’s football. And then, it wasn’t easy to recover, we scored early and then did everything to try to win,” he pointed out.

“It was a well-contested game. We knew about the quality they have up front. They showed it, especially in the second half, with some changes, the power and speed they have in attack. We had control for most of the match, we had some moments at the beginning of the second half where we could have been better. Overall, I think we deserved more from the game, but we have to accept the result,” he added.

What are the standings in the Europa League?

This new ‘slip’ keeps FC Porto out of the direct qualification spots for the Europa League round of 16. The team now has seven points and shares the tenth place with PAOK, Brann, Dinamo Zagreb, Fenerbahçe, and Genk (who also won against Sporting de Braga 3-4 on Thursday).

Utrecht, on the other hand, earned their first point in the 2025/26 edition of the competition and moved up to the 32nd place, tied with Malmo and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

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