Gabri Veiga says FC Porto are the ‘team to beat’ in 2026/27 | OneFootball

Gabri Veiga opened FC Porto’s new season with an idea as simple as it is demanding: those who win become the ones everyone is chasing. As the team coached by Francesco Farioli got back to work, the Spanish midfielder pointed to the burden of defending the title, spoke about the toughness that lies ahead, and called for an even stronger bond between dressing room and stands. At the heart of his message was one competitive certainty: “We are the team to beat.”

As work resumed, split between the Jorge Costa Training and Sports Development Centre in Olival and Clínica do Dragão in Porto, Gabri Veiga struck the tone of someone who knows the new season begins long before the ball starts rolling for real. At 24, the Spaniard arrived with a message of ambition and warning, at a time when FC Porto, the reigning champions, are preparing to hit the road again under the command of Francesco Farioli.

The first strong point came when the midfielder was asked about the status with which the Dragons enter 2026/27. Far from treating their condition as champions like a cushion, Gabri Veiga painted a picture of maximum demand, with better-prepared rivals and a much smaller margin for surprise.

“We are the team to beat, our rivals will strengthen and, without a doubt, it will be a more difficult season than the previous one,” he said. “I think we surprised the others with the level we showed and now they know us, so it’s going to be very difficult, but we are here to honor FC Porto and put it where it deserves to be, which is above everyone else,” he stressed.

In these words there is the stark awareness that success changes a team’s context. FC Porto no longer move under the radar and instead carry the natural weight of a side that has become the benchmark, a detail that helps explain the serious tone with which the squad are approaching this new start.

Speaking later about returning to the pitch and to daily work, Gabri Veiga made it clear that the excitement of the beginning does not rule out urgency. In his view, pre-season is not just a calendar formality, but the ground on which the competitive stamina for the months ahead is built.

“We are very eager to get back to enjoying what we like most, to playing at home again with our fans. The truth is that we have a very exciting season ahead of us and we have to start working flat out right away,” he said.

The tone combines enthusiasm with discipline, as if the pleasure of playing again goes hand in hand with the obligation to hit the ground running from day one. It is a message in keeping with a team that knows a title defense cannot be improvised and that every detail of preparation matters.

The Spanish midfielder also dwelt on the opening phase of the work, distinguishing between the symbolic value of the medical tests and the real demands of training. There, more than offering the usual pre-season clichés, he gave a clear clue about the kind of team FC Porto want to keep being.

“The medical tests are not very important, but training is, because we are a team that needs to give 100%, to leave everything on the pitch, so we have to prepare well and I already know we’re going to suffer a bit,” he admitted.

That sentence contains an important part of the identity Gabri Veiga describes: intensity, commitment, and the ability to cope with the workload the playing model demands. July’s suffering thus appears not as a complaint, but as a declared investment in what the season will require.

In the final part of his remarks, the Spaniard turned outward, to the stands and to the emotional bond that often underpins a team’s performances over the course of a long year. The appeal was direct, with the understanding that objectives only take shape when the connection between team and fans holds firm through the toughest moments.

“Every year they are important, and this year we all have to be united, team and fans, because it’s going to be a very difficult year, very exciting, and with many objectives ahead of us,” he concluded. “We need our fans more than ever and I’m sure they will be there giving everything.”

FC Porto began pre-season with 28 players under the orders of Francesco Farioli, split between medical tests and physical work, and now continue their preparations in Olival ahead of the training camp in Burton upon Trent, from July 13 to 18. Along the way, the blue-and-white side are fine-tuning both body and message for their first official target, the Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup against Torreense. In Gabri Veiga’s words, the line has already been drawn: more difficulty, more responsibility, and the same ambition to place the club “above everyone else.”

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