Farioli on Pepê’s injury: “Just unlucky” | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli made his first statements after FC Porto's thrashing of Casa Pia (4-0), in the quick interview section of Sport TV. The Italian coach praised his team's performance, but did not fail to point out a drop in performance over the 90 minutes: «The approach to the game was fantastic. The players had a good reading, good intensity and the necessary patience to generate the right opportunities. In the second half we lost structure, without the ball we did well, but with it we didn't create as much as we could.»

«We have many things to improve, but it's an important result to continue», Farioli emphasized.

The coach also evaluated the first 45 minutes of Francisco Moura this season, framing them in the recovery plan applied in recent weeks: «Francisco played 45 minutes in the middle of the week against the B team and did well. He's an important player for the team. We have a game before the international break [Sporting, on August 30], but after that we have so many games. We need to recover all the players.»

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With Moura's exit from the medical bulletin, Pepê entered the game due to an eye injury. Farioli specified the origin of the winger's problem: «It was bad luck. He was hit by a ball in the eye that caused damage. He needs to be evaluated. We need to see [if he will be available for Sporting], it's very recent, but the medical team will try to recover him in time.»

The coach also commented that the uncertainty about Pepê's absence was compensated by William Gomes' performance, who took advantage of the opportunity and scored an excellent goal. Farioli praised the young winger: «The way he started the game and continued was fantastic. Of course, he scored a goal, it's the cherry on top, but the energy was great.»

Despite the three wins in the first three rounds, Farioli tempered the enthusiasm and insisted that «there's a lot to improve». Already looking to Alvalade, he highlighted the mentality of his players: «We made the games seem easy, the mentality is incredible, we've been doing it since the first day. We have six days to prepare to play at the champions' home.»

The coach rejected the idea that he had made changes to key elements, such as Froholdt, early in the second half with the purpose of managing efforts for Alvalade; explained that the substitutions aimed to «protect the players» and «finish the game with 11 elements».

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