Smalling trains under Farioli and travels for Deportivo friendly | OneFootball

Chris Smalling reported at Olival, trained under Francesco Farioli and then travelled to A Coruña for a friendly with Deportivo today at 18:00, live on SportTV1. According to O Jogo, this came a day after his surprise unveiling as a Porto signing.

With centre-back options depleted, Bednarek, Kiwior and Prpic are on international duty and others are injured. Farioli is expected to give the England international his first minutes.

Smalling arrived early, met the squad and staff and was welcomed by Farioli. He completed the customary initiation tunnel and addressed team-mates, thanking them, saying he was happy to be here and finishing with a Portuguese vamos. He trained on a lighter load than the rest and posted positive numbers in physical tests.

Porto’s social channels carried a video of him selecting five career highlights, his Premier League debut for Fulham at 19, a first Manchester derby goal for United, his first league title with United, a first England goal against Portugal at Wembley, and Roma’s Conference League triumph under Mourinho. He said Porto’s celebrations last season reminded him of Rome and that he hopes to add new moments here, including goals in future classics.

Farioli has named 23 for A Coruña, only 12 from the first team. Summer arrivals Souza and Gabriel Mec could feature for the first time in front of Porto fans.

Under-19 pair Antoni Nikolov and João Abreu are included, alongside B-team players Gonçalo Silva, António Ribeiro, Yoan Pereira, Luís Gomes, Tiago Ferreira, Kauê Rodrigues, Tiago Silva, João Teixeira and Gabriel Veron. Veron could make his first senior appearance for more than three years.

The injured group did not travel, João Costa, Nehuén Pérez, Martim Fernandes, Zaidu, Seko Fofana, Vasco Sousa, Gabri Veiga and André Miranda.

Source: O Jogo

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