Sérgio and Francisco Conceição on FC Porto: “It’s our club at heart” | OneFootball

Sérgio and Francisco Conceição gave a lengthy interview this Tuesday to the American outlet The Athletic, in which they addressed various topics, starting with their time at FC Porto, where the father gave the son his debut at the highest level.

Francisco Conceição, a Portugal international currently playing for Juventus, began by recalling a transfer that ended up shaping his career: “I left Sporting for FC Porto, the club of my heart and my family. My father played and coached there for a long time. It was the most important club of my formative years, where I first reached a senior team in my life, with my father as coach.”

“From FC Porto, I moved to Ajax. I felt it was the right transfer for me. I had just become Portuguese champion. I wanted to develop as a player. It didn’t go as I had hoped, and I was only there for a year. That only made me hungrier when I returned to FC Porto, to show how good I was. It was the right decision. I reached the Portugal national team,” he said.

“I moved to Juventus in 2024. Once again, it was the right step, to a huge club, at a time when I wanted to win titles again. Serie A is very tactical. For forwards, it is much harder to score goals, it is much harder for your qualities to stand out. Teams play with a back five, and the main thing is not to concede, but all of this is making me a better player. I’m happy at Juventus, and my main goal is to win titles at Juventus,” he added.

“My first title at FC Porto ended Benfica’s four-year winning streak”

Sérgio Conceição, in turn, focused on his two spells at FC Porto, the first of them as a player: “I left [in 1998, for Lazio]. It was worth it. There were several individual moments that led us to our main objective, which was for matches to result in titles. I always think of the team’s objectives first. Now, there are one or two individual moments that remain in my memory because of the context and the moment.”

“I’m thinking about my goal [for Lazio] in the Italian Super Cup against the Juventus of [Zinédine] Zidane and [Alessandro] Del Piero — we won 2-1 at Juventus’ stadium, and my goal decided the match. The three goals against Germany [for Portugal] at Euro 2000, and the Golden Boot in Belgium, [with Standard Liège], as the best player of the season there... Then I would say all the matches that led to the ten titles I won,” he reflected.

The former Portugal international then returned to speak about his path as a coach at the Estádio do Dragão: “My first title at FC Porto [in 2017/18] was a very special moment. It ended Benfica’s four-year winning streak. As a player, I helped FC Porto win five national titles in a row, the most successful run in the club’s history, and, as a coach, I won three national titles with FC Porto, the last of them the 30th in the club’s history.”

“These moments represent the culmination of hard work and passion. And there are difficult moments as a player: one defeat or another always leaves its mark. I won 70% of the finals I played in. There were some finals I lost, and it was almost always on penalties. Losing to Sporting at Jamor twice on penalties, the first while at Sporting de Braga and the second at FC Porto... It was painful,” he concluded.

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