Zaidu-Moura mix-up costs FC Porto a substitution against Utrecht | OneFootball

Even before FC Porto started Thursday's match against Utrecht in the Netherlands, they already knew they could only make four substitutions during the game – and the responsibility ended up falling on Zaidu.

The Nigerian left-back of the dragons had been announced as a starter in the pre-match conference by coach Francesco Farioli, but remained in doubt until the start of the warm-up.

A discomfort from the left-winger alarmed the FC Porto bench and forced a change in the match sheet, including Francisco Moura as a precaution in place of Zaidu; however, at the last moment, the Nigerian indicated he was fit to play.

Faced with this situation, Farioli maintained the initial option of placing Zaidu in the starting eleven, accepting the 'penalty' of having one less substitution available throughout the match.

It should be remembered that the coach of the blue and white team had stated that the Nigerian international would be a starter in this match: “Unfortunately, in the League we can only have 20 players and having a player like Martim helps, because he can play on both sides, but Zaidu will start tomorrow,” he said in yesterday's preview.

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