Back-to-back titles are no cushion | OneFootball

In the first training session of a new season, there is always an emotional awakening that cannot be measured by the kilometres covered or the cones arranged in triangles on the grass, but by the way a club learns once again to believe in itself after a summer full of silences, airports and rumours. FC Porto returned to Olival with the taste of the celebrations for the 31st title still very much alive, but already with the empty stomach that Francesco Farioli spoke of. True champions know that medals are merely photographs of the past and that the future demands a different hunger.

While the country is still digesting the disappointment of a World Cup that ended far too soon, at the Jorge Costa Training Centre there was an almost insolent atmosphere of happiness, in contrast to the general dejection. No triumphalism, no turning the word “back-to-back champion” into a comfortable cushion. No seeking comfort. Diogo Costa did not train after carrying Portugal on his shoulders at the World Cup. And even so, before going on holiday, he stopped by Olival to see his teammates in a gesture worth more than many press conferences. The captain chose to show up before leaving, as if leaving a gust of enthusiasm for his teammates. When the market turns players into barcodes and airports into waiting rooms for farewells, Diogo Costa’s visit became part of the manual of emotional resistance, with the certainty that it is this goal that nourishes the city’s roots.

Meanwhile, the calendar draws nearer with inevitable discipline. As early as tomorrow, the training camp at St. George’s Park. Then Aston Villa at the Dragão in the presentation match, the Super Cup against Torreense on 1 August, followed by the league opener the following week. Demands, criticism, nerves, hasty calculations and standings. But the first day of training delivered a profound message, because hope does not return through grand speeches, but through small signs: a good-humoured initiation, the music chosen by the players, a coach who asks for intensity without arrogance, or a captain who drops by Olival before going off to rest.

From what was seen at Olival, it is clear that the house is in order, even though mourning still lingers for the memory of Jorge Costa, whose name, engraved at the entrance, insists on not letting anyone forget. Farioli speaks of starting again from zero, with an empty stomach, without returning to the museums where the past is kept, so as not to confuse it with what still remains to be done in a season that promises affirmation rather than management of the achievement. FC Porto, after ending a four-year drought, has decided that the only way to remain champion is to pretend, every day, that it still is not.

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