Francesco Farioli happy but cautious: “The road will be long” | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli, FC Porto’s head coach, reflected on the 3-1 win over Benfica at the Estádio do Dragão in the clássico that brought the seventh round of the league to a close. With a seventh victory in as many matches, Porto moved clear at the top, five points ahead of the Lisbon side. The coach highlighted the team’s response, the contribution of the entire club structure, and the need to keep their feet on the ground, assuring: “the journey will be long.”

After a night of maximum intensity at the Dragão, Francesco Farioli offered an assessment that went beyond the scoreline. The Italian praised the collective ability to overcome the most demanding moments of the match, without losing sight of a season he considers long and inevitably demanding.

Regarding the 90 minutes, the coach acknowledged the complexity of a clássico played against an opponent that forced the Dragons to stay fully switched on throughout.

“In reality, we already knew it was going to be a complicated game, made up of moments, periods of superiority and situations, but we were very good and showed great team spirit. The moment when we were not at our best was after Benfica went down to 10 men; it took us a few minutes to adjust, but the truth is that we produced a great performance against a very high-quality opponent,” he said. “We know how difficult the league is going to be, it is a long marathon, and we are playing against two teams that together invested more than 200 million euros in the market.”

In Farioli’s view, Porto’s performance had merit in its own right, but it also showed the scale of the challenge the competition holds. For that reason, going top does not change the vigilance with which he approaches the road ahead.

The response to the equaliser was another moment that drew the coach’s attention. Farioli stressed the quality the team showed in regaining control of a game that could not be left open.

“We showed a lot of quality. If we lose concentration at any moment and do not do everything perfectly, we pay the price for it, but the reaction to the equaliser was very positive,” he analysed. “At half-time we said we had to increase the gap, we could not leave the game open, because they have the individual and collective quality to be dangerous. We reacted very well to their goal.”

The message is clear: in a match of this magnitude, any mistake can have consequences. FC Porto responded to that difficult moment with the ambition the coach had asked for at half-time.

Farioli also explained Gabri Veiga’s substitution, after he left the match having scored. The coach revealed the physical issues the player had been feeling in the previous days and the work needed to get him fit to play.

“In recent days he had some spasms in his legs, it was a challenging period, and last night Álvaro Magalhães (physiotherapist) was in his room until midnight. This morning as well, but we knew that everyone’s work would bring us these points,” he explained. “Gabri did everything to be in the game, but when he felt pain, we had to make a decision.”

The episode led Farioli to extend the credit beyond the decisions made on the pitch. In his view, Gabri Veiga’s availability and the support of those who prepared him for the match were part of the same collective effort.

It was precisely that collective dimension the coach wanted to place at the centre of the celebrations. From the stands to the medical staff, Farioli shared the recognition with everyone who contributed to the night at the Dragão.

“This victory comes from the collective work of the Porto family, of everyone out there, who put on a great show. Everyone is contributing a lot, and we have the example of Samu, who highlighted what everyone in the Medical Department did for him,” he stressed. “This is a victory with many names and many fathers. I’m very happy to be here and celebrate once again with this group.”

The win was therefore not limited to the most visible protagonists of the clássico. Farioli described it as the result of a whole community around the team, a picture that gives meaning to the title of a special night.

Asked about the work of the refereeing team, the coach was brief and did not fuel any controversy.

“Nothing strange happened tonight, so everything is fine.”

Without dwelling on the subject, Farioli turned the focus back to the football and the result. In his words, the priority lies in what the team still has to build.

As for their strengthened lead at the top, the coach rejected any temptation to treat the start as a guarantee for the future. Between injuries and the need to keep the squad balanced, he offered a calm warning about the demands of the season.

“The past is the past, it is a new era, a new season. We are happy with our start, but the journey will be long and there are many things we have to work on internally with the team to keep the squad balanced,” he assured. “We have some players out due to injury and in a season it is always good to have depth in the squad, so we want to have everyone available again as quickly as possible.”

The enthusiasm over the start therefore coexists with a pragmatic outlook. Farioli is celebrating the moment, but he is already pointing to depth, recovery and daily work as the conditions needed to sustain the advantage they have earned.

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