“We want the Dragão Arena to be our fortress” | OneFootball

FC Porto’s roller hockey team hosts Sporting in the first game of the championship semi-finals, starting at 8pm this Wednesday, live on Porto Canal, and Gonçalo Alves assures that they will “do everything within our power to give the Porto fans another victory”. After winning the Champions League and eliminating UD Oliveirense in the quarter-finals, the blue-and-white side enters this tie “in a good moment” and “confident that it can put in a good performance”, counting on “the support of the fans” to “keep fighting for a third straight title”. Tickets are on sale through the usual outlets.

Best-of-five series“The semi-finals start now, a new stage of the play-offs that will be played as a best-of-five series. It is very important for us to win this first game at home, so that we can make a statement and put more pressure on Sporting. The team reaches the semi-finals in a good moment, after winning the Champions League two weeks ago and after beating UD Oliveirense in the last two games. We are in a good moment and confident that we can play a good game. We want to come here, play well and win. We hope the arena will be full and that the fans will push us to victory.”

Home advantage“We know perfectly well that home advantage is hugely important, but last year we managed to overcome that. The teams are very evenly matched, they have great players and a very strong collective. We know that all scenarios are possible, but we want Dragão Arena to be our fortress. We are focused on ourselves, on our strength and on our desire to win.”

Strong individual performances“That comes from the team’s work, which has been very good and has worked very hard during the week, and that is reflected in the matches. Because of that, each of us is able to give a little bit more of ourselves, and that is what we have to keep doing. Some days it’s me, others it’s Carlo (Di Benedetto), or (Ezequiel) Mena or (Xavi) Mali — everyone has an important role. If all goes well, tomorrow someone else will step up, and the collective will be even stronger than the individuals.”

Message to the fans“They are our strength. With their support, things become easier. It is very important that they show up, because even though we won the Champions League, we still have more competitions to win. The league is the next step and we want to fight for a third straight title. I hope the fans support us and stand with us. We will do everything within our power to give FC Porto another victory.”

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