Gabri Veiga: “FC Porto are back, and that may annoy some people” | OneFootball

Gabri Veiga was one of the standout names in the campaign that returned FC Porto to the national title and, on the eve of the celebration with trophy and party, looked back to recall the moments that, in his view, defined the season. The Spanish midfielder spoke of suffering and unity, of setbacks that did not knock the team off course, and of victories that became even more valuable as the pressure increased. At the heart of it all was one simple, firm idea: “above all, not falling.”

On the verge of the final celebrations, Gabri Veiga spoke to the press with the calm of someone who has already been through the most demanding stretch and is now trying to organize the memory of the decisive days. The protagonist’s full name appears here effortlessly: Gabri Veiga was invited to look back on an important season at FC Porto, and his answer always followed the same thread, that of the emotional stability of a team that knew how to withstand impact, noise, and expectation.

When asked to highlight a match, a win, or a decisive moment, the Spaniard did not want to reduce the season to a single image. He preferred to describe it as a sequence of tests of endurance, amid scares, signs of strength, and matches in which the margin for error seemed to grow ever smaller.

“For me there were several moments. Jorge’s death, which was a moment that brought the team even closer together, especially at the beginning; then the defeat against Casa Pia… In a team without so much personality, without that work behind it, confidence and unity, you would never know where it might go after that defeat,” he said. “And with everyone saying Sporting were going to reclaim first place, etc., etc.; then I also think the win against Braga was very important, they were one of the rivals that surprised me the most, one of the teams I liked the most — a word for them because they played, at least against us, an admirable match —; finally, the win against Estoril. Sporting had a game in hand and, if we had lost, it was a moment when they could have overtaken us. Estoril were also a very strong team, something that surprised me about Portuguese teams, the level really is very high. Those were the wins, those events and, above all, not falling.”

More than just a simple chronological sequence, the answer paints a picture of the competitive spirit that, in the player’s view, sustained the run. Veiga underlined what distinguishes a team that wavers from one that can absorb the blow and keep going, making it clear that the title was also built on the way FC Porto reacted when the situation threatened to become complicated.

Asked whether the defeat against Aves SAD tarnishes the campaign, the midfielder dismissed the idea without hesitation. He did so pragmatically, recalling that even champion teams slip up when they drop their level and that, in such cases, the warning can be useful.

“No, I don’t believe so. In fact, this Wednesday we had another example at the highest level: Barcelona, who had been celebrating two days earlier, lost to an Alavés side that was fighting to stay up,” he explained. “Aves had nothing to play for and we had that desire to equal the points record, in addition to personal goals, but these are things that can happen. It is a lesson to understand that, when we are not at 100 percent, if we drop just a little bit, all teams are competent enough to give us a bad afternoon. It is something we have to learn from and not lower the level next year.”

The remarks reveal the high standards with which the dressing room judges its own work: without dramatizing the slip-up, but also without hiding it. In Gabri Veiga’s view, the defeat does not erase the journey or undermine the legitimacy of the campaign; rather, it serves as a reminder that at the top, any advantage never allows for complacency.

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