“It’s an important result to start the season in the right spirit” | OneFootball

FC Porto began the defence of their national championship title with a 2-0 win over FC Alverca at the Estádio do Dragão, in the opening round of the league season. At the end of the match, Francesco Farioli felt that the Porto side came in “with the right spirit before the first goal”, although he acknowledged that, after that moment, “the game turned into something we didn’t expect”. The coach also stressed that “at this stage of the season it’s not easy to be brilliant”, praised the Ribatejo side for the “good game” they played, and sees the match as an example of the competition level in the league: “Every game will demand our maximum commitment and attention. Today, in the moments when we switched off, we allowed dangerous chances, but Diogo Costa was there, helping us keep a clean sheet, move forward and get the three points.”

An analysis of the 90 minutes “We started very well and with the right spirit before the first goal. Then the game turned into something we didn’t expect, but at this stage of the season it’s not easy to be brilliant. Today we were clinical and efficient. It’s an important result to start the season with the right spirit.”

FC Alverca’s good response “They played a good game, they are an organised team with impressive physicality. Physically, they can compete with any team. In every individual action they made, they were able to move up the pitch, but we also helped with that because we lost too many balls, especially in the first half. There were several little things that made the game into something we didn’t want.”

Borja Sainz used on the right side of the attack “We work on that so that we have different scenarios, especially on the right flank, where we also usually use Pepê and William Gomes, who gives us different things when playing on that side. This doesn’t mean Borja will play on the right all season, but for now he is there. He has worked most of the time on that side, but he can return to the other side, as he played last season.”

Martim Fernandes and André Silva came off with physical problems “Martim took a few knocks to the foot. The one we’ll have to look at more closely is André. The sprain was significant, we’ll have to see tomorrow.”

The league’s level of difficulty “Last season we spoke about that several times. I can’t think of a single game that ended with me thinking it was easy, not one. I don’t expect anything different this season, and the competition will be even tougher. Every game will demand our maximum commitment and attention. Today, in the moments when we switched off, we allowed dangerous chances, but Diogo Costa was there, helping us keep a clean sheet, move forward and get the three points.”

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