FC Porto go in as favourites for the Portuguese Basketball Cup final four | OneFootball

FC Porto, champions in the last two editions, are the main favorites for the final four of the Portuguese Cup, which takes place this weekend in Albufeira. Benfica will not be present, having been eliminated in the round of 16 by Sp. Braga. With 16 trophies won, the dragons begin their participation in the semi-finals on Saturday at 4:00 PM, against Galitos.

“The expectations are good, especially considering the last four matches, in which we showed some evolution in most situations. I expect nothing less than increasing the levels of concentration, aggressiveness, intensity, and focus on what is important to us. We are the winners of the Portuguese Cup for the last two years and we want to keep it close to us. That is what we are going to work for,” anticipated Fernando Sá, Porto's coach, on the club's website, before looking at the opponent: “It will be an extremely complicated game and it is our only objective at the moment. It is a very athletic, very versatile team that has had good shooting percentages. It is very intense defensively and has a starting five that can give them advantages at one moment or another and can disrupt our attack, but we have been working in that direction so that things can go well for us.”

On the Galitos side, coach Henrique Pina was direct: “We arrive here with a lot of enthusiasm, ambition, and, like all the other opponents present, we have a 25% chance of winning,” he considered.

Then, at 7:00 PM, the other semi-final takes place between Sporting and Oliveirense. The lions have won this competition on eight occasions, the most recent in 2021/22, while Oliveirense has one victory in the competition, in 2002/03.

“This competition has all the possible importance. We are a club that likes to win, that works and invests to win titles, and therefore, it has all the importance. We are very motivated and interested in achieving a good result in the semi-final so we can be present in the final and compete for the title,” analyzed coach Luís Magalhães, on the lions' website, praising the opponent: “Against Oliveirense we expect the difficulties of a team that also wants to be present in the final. The teams that reached the final four did so on merit and always aspire to go as far as possible. Oliveirense last year won a trophy [Hugo dos Santos Cup] and I believe they are very motivated to try to repeat that because it is always a good taste that remains.”

Regarding Oliveirense, coach João Figueiredo showed confidence: “It is a game won in the details, not a game won on paper, but by those who execute better. We believe a lot in the collective commitment of our players, the locker room, and the work we do every day,” he emphasized.

In the previous edition, FC Porto beat Sporting in the final by 94-73. Two seasons ago, the dragons defeated Benfica in the decision by 81-78.

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