André Villas-Boas backs Farioli: “We’ve great faith in his work” | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas spoke to the Spanish newspaper ‘Marca’ in his capacity as an ambassador for the Laureus Foundation, but FC Porto ended up dominating the interview. After admitting that the role of president is “more stressful” than that of coach, the Dragons’ leader was asked to comment on the work that has been done and, in particular, on the possibility of one day inviting José Mourinho—still a reference point in Spain because of his spells at Barcelona and Real Madrid—to manage the Dragons.

“FC Porto and its supporters had the opportunity to pay tribute to José Mourinho when he left Fenerbahçe, before signing for Benfica, our great rival. I think that was important. At the moment he is Benfica’s coach and from time to time we exchange messages, respecting our clubs, because we are fighting for the same objective, the league title,” said André Villas-Boas.

While admitting that he does not see himself returning to the dugout in the future and that he intends to devote himself exclusively to the FC Porto presidency, AVB also put into context his decision to run, praising the legacy of Pinto da Costa: “I always wanted to have a short career and I coached for 13 years. In the last few, I was preparing for the elections at FC Porto: finalising the programme, organising my team… It was truly exciting. The club won many titles with Pinto da Costa, the most successful president in Europe, but it was time for change, so I decided to put myself forward. It went well because FC Porto’s members wanted that change. They were looking for stability, especially financial stability.”

Looking back on nearly two years in charge of FC Porto, Villas-Boas sounded confident. “The role of president is more stressful. As a coach, you have more things under control: the team, the preparation, the tactics… The role of president is to put people in the right places across different areas, starting with all the sports departments and then everything related to the FC Porto group: finance, marketing, logistics… It was a major challenge,” he said, concluding: “We had a difficult first year, a first year of transformation, when most of our focus was on the financial side. We managed to balance things in the long term and now our focus and stability are on the sporting side. We hired Francesco Farioli, which proved to be the right move. We are top of the Primeira Liga, in the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup and the quarter-finals of the Europa League. That is why we renewed his contract. We have great confidence in his work and in the future. At academy level, everything is also a little more stable. There are many young players developing and I trust that, in the long term, they will bring us stability so that FC Porto can be more successful nationally and internationally.”

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