Francesco Farioli: “The players repaid the fans’ efforts” | OneFootball

FC Porto won in Arouca by 4-0, despite being reduced to ten players at the 48th minute. Francesco Farioli highlighted “the fantastic reaction of the team to the expulsion of Martim Fernandes“: “We managed to compensate with and without the ball, we were very good with the second balls and the spirit was always there.

The Italian coach emphasized that, finishing the first of three matches in the span of a week, it was “a good first step,” but warned that it is necessary “to start preparing for the reception of Red Star with the mentality, spirit, and desire of tonight.”

On the right track“I prefer to play 11 against 11, but the reaction to Martim's expulsion was fantastic. We managed to compensate with the ball and without the ball, we were very good with the second balls and the spirit was always there. We didn't concede any goals and that is spectacular. The players deserve to celebrate, but they already know that as soon as we leave this stadium, today's game is over and we have to start preparing for the reception of Red Star with today's mentality, spirit, and desire.”

Immediate response“It was important to score the 2-0 and 3-0 right after the expulsion, that helped us gain confidence. I am happy for Deniz Gül, he had been deserving a goal, he always came in very well. Of course, I could mention all of them because they all played a good game. It was very good, now we have to prepare for the game with Red Star and we will do it starting tomorrow with our feet firmly on the ground and the will to move forward.”

About Martim's expulsion“Football is made of mistakes, it happens and Martim showed himself to be very sorry. I already told him that it's not a case to apologize, because the two situations in which he got a yellow card were game situations with the ball that are part of football.”

Samu“It's just a bit of tendinopathy and inflammation. He did a lot of sprinting and stopping. Stopping a body like his causes overload, but I think he will be fine soon. I saw him running a lot to celebrate the second goal. Everything should be fine.”

About the postponement“If we had played yesterday, we would have made other decisions and we don't know how it would have gone. We played on one of the best fields in the League and, therefore, I want to congratulate FC Arouca, who did very well and did not make it easy for FC Porto. What we did today seems normal, but it is extraordinary.”

The support of the fans“We don't have much time to celebrate because of our schedule, but having the support of the fans is fantastic. There were 2,500 fans traveling to Arouca to buy tickets for this game and that is extraordinary. The effort they made was rewarded by the players. We will continue, we hope that the Dragão will be full on Thursday. It was a good first step, let's go for the second.”

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