André Franco: “FC Porto? My only regret is not winning the league” | OneFootball

André Franco gave an interview to the newspaper O JOGO in which he recalled his time at FC Porto. He spent three seasons at the club, totaling 71 games, five goals, and five assists. He won a Super Cup, two Portuguese Cups, and the unprecedented League Cup, but never managed to win the national championship.

What was left undone or what went wrong at FC Porto?-The main thing that weighs on me is not having managed to become national champion, something I always wanted, to go to the Aliados to celebrate a title. Individually, I don’t consider my time there to have been completely successful. I fulfilled dreams, won trophies, and played in the Champions League, but I believe I could have had a much bigger impact. For various reasons I didn’t manage it, and I take my share of responsibility. I’d like to tell the younger players that, to play for a big team, you need great mental strength—maybe that’s what I lacked at the start. We have to accept criticism, internalize it, and become stronger. If I joined a big club today, it would be different, I’m more mature now, I arrived at 23, 24 years old. No one can accuse me of lacking professionalism, but I feel I was never able to show Porto fans my true technical value. It came out sporadically, I wasn’t regular or consistent. The regret is not having been champion and knowing I could have given much more—it wasn’t because of one coach or another.

After all, Alan Varela says he doesn’t know a better left foot…-[laughs] It’s also a matter of confidence: if you don’t play one game, then another, and things start not to go your way. In training, Alan saw the left foot. I regret not having shown more, I know I had an impact at times, but I wanted to be more consistent.

And can you pick the best moment at FC Porto?-I’d highlight winning the Portuguese Cup, especially the final against Braga—I won two, but the last one happened during a less positive period for the club; the victory against Braga stayed with me because I had the opportunity to come on and because of the symbolism of the competition. I also remember my Champions League debut against Inter, at home. A game that marked me positively was the match against Shakhtar, played in Hamburg due to the war: it was my first time starting in the Champions League, I put in a very good individual performance and the team won—it will always stay in my memory.

You ended up not doing preseason with Farioli. Were the reasons explained?-It was a decision made together with the Board. In January, an offer came in, but with the departure of Nico González and also Galeno, the squad became a bit short, so at the time it wasn’t possible to finalize the transfer. Since January, the club had shown openness to my departure and I also understood that the best thing for my career would be to leave in the summer. So an agreement was reached between all parties: it didn’t make sense to continue at FC Porto, the club also believed it wasn’t appropriate to keep me in the squad and, instead of doing a preseason without purpose and risking injury, we opted for an amicable solution, which ended up being the best for everyone.

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