Farioli thriving at FC Porto: “This club was right for me” | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli attended an event organized by an Italian socio-cultural association in Porto and did not hide his satisfaction at having been welcomed in the city “very warmly”, even stating that the fact his first title as a coach came while in charge of FC Porto “may not be a coincidence”.

In remarks quoted by this Thursday’s edition of O Jogo, the 37-year-old coach said he hopes winning the Primeira Liga was only “the beginning of a beautiful journey with this club, with these people and with those who follow FC Porto closely, whether at the stadium or from home”, explaining the success through what happens behind the scenes.

“In this environment, it is rare to find people with interests that go beyond the sporting sphere. Honestly, at our club, we have the opportunity to have a president who is a man of culture, a man of great curiosity, who has also managed to reinvent himself in various roles and carve out an extraordinary path up to this point,” he reflected.

The Italian coach also heaped praise on André Villas-Boas, stating that his personal goal is “to be able to contribute so that his years as president are filled with success and sporting results”, not least because he feels that, at the green-and-white club, he has “the real feeling of having arrived at the right place”.

“Many times it was said that I was the right person for this club, but let me turn the sentence around. This club was the right one for me. It was a pleasant and unique meeting in the world of football. I found directors, the president — with whom I built a very close relationship — and a very fast and short decision-making chain, which is different from what I experienced last year in Amsterdam with Ajax,” he added.

“Even if we played in a shirt of a different color, not green or red, I would know it was FC Porto”

Turning to the sporting side, Francesco Farioli identified the 2-2 draw against Famalicão at the Estádio do Dragão on April 4, in the 28th round of the Primeira Liga, as the match that hurt him the most as FC Porto coach, in a game marked by Rodrigo Pinheiro’s goal deep into stoppage time.

“It was the ugliest game we played, it drained a lot of energy from us, and we scored in the 91st minute, then they equalized in the 99th. It cut our shout short a little, but over a season, that is part of the game, and emotions are sometimes beautiful, other times not so much,” he confessed to those present.

As for his playing philosophy, which earned him countless criticisms, he replied: “Between playing well and playing as a team, I will always choose the second. My goal is not to hear people say we are the most beautiful in the world, but rather that we are a recognizable team. Even if we played in a shirt of a different color, not green or red, I would know it was FC Porto.”

To conclude, he said he hopes “to leave a legacy” in football, “something for only a few, for the greatest”: “It is something for people who truly changed football, like Guardiola and Cruyff, or Arrigo Sacchi, to mention a compatriot. It is a big ambition, perhaps too big for me right now, but history belongs to those who have the strength and the ability to leave a legacy.”

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