“I had to take painkillers to play, but FC Porto is hard graft…” | OneFootball

Jan Bednarek returned sooner than initially expected after the right knee injury he suffered in the Super Cup. The Polish centre-back started on Sunday, in the opening round of the 2026/27 league season, as FC Porto beat Alverca 2-0.

After the match, the Polish sheriff spoke to Poland’s Eleven Sports and revealed that he “was not at 100%” against the Ribatejo side, having relied on medication. “I had a problem with the lateral ligaments, but the structure was not damaged. So I took painkillers to play. FC Porto is hard work,” began the centre-back, who also spoke again about the state of the pitch at the Cidade de Coimbra Stadium.

“The pitch was tragic in that game. On television it didn’t look quite so bad, but we were on the field the day before the match and it was ten times worse. On the morning of the game they painted the grass, so the visual effect on television was not that bad. We want to promote the Portuguese league in Europe, and things like this do not help. We want to play at the highest level, we want to bring joy to the fans watching on television and, in these conditions, besides it being difficult to play quickly and one-touch, it is also dangerous, as was seen. It was a shame, but fortunately nothing serious happened,” noted the Dragons’ number 5.

On the performance against Alverca, Bednarek admitted that the team still has room for improvement. “Today [Sunday] was a bit pragmatic. We are not completely satisfied. I think the result is OK, it is important to start with a win and a clean sheet, but it seems to me that we lost the ball too easily in simple situations where we should have kept possession in midfield and up front. We lacked a bit of composure to hold on to the ball and, because of that, there was a lot of running from one side to the other. No, it was not good, but fortunately we won 2-0,” he pointed out.

The 30-year-old Poland international also highlighted the group’s defensive solidity and ambition before addressing the work done during pre-season. “That pragmatism remained, the good defensive display, Diogo [Costa]’s good saves… There were some good moments, but I think we are capable of more. We have a motto in the team: we want more. We made history last season, there was a fantastic celebration, but I think it is time to write a new story and that is what we want to do. We are hungry for success, we want more for this city and for these people, because we know how much happiness last season gave them. We demand more of ourselves,” added the 30-year-old Poland international, who also spoke about the importance of the work carried out in pre-season.

Bednarek ended with praise for the effort made by the squad during the weeks leading up to the official start of the season. “We really worked extremely hard. In my career, I have never had a pre-season in which we trained so hard, where we had to break mental barriers, because it was really very, very difficult. But that shows that hard work pays off. I do not think anyone complained, we all knew we were doing it for a goal, and that goal is to be fit throughout the season. That is our plan,” he concluded.

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