“It’s a story that begins with new faces, but the same duty and ambition” | OneFootball

FC Porto B make their Segunda Liga debut against Lusitânia de Lourosa at the Estádio Municipal 25 de Abril in Penafiel (Monday, 6pm, Sport TV+), with João Brandão looking ahead to “a new season, a new page, a new story beginning with new characters, but with the same responsibility and the same ambition of those who represent FC Porto.” The Porto coach is sticking to the aim of “developing players while winning” and wants to “create a favourable environment, an environment of victories, of controlling the game and also of great responsibility at all moments” from the very first matchday: “Last season is closed, we are, as our president said very well, that team that has nothing and wants everything, and we’re going after everything this season.”

A new story to write

“It’s a new season, a new page, a new story beginning with new characters, but with the same responsibility and the same ambition of those who represent FC Porto. We want to bring a quality of play that reflects FC Porto’s history and help our players grow, but for that it is essential to create a favourable environment, an environment of victories, of controlling the game and also of great responsibility at all moments, including the more defensive ones and set pieces, which in this Segunda Liga we know are extremely important.”

The opponent

“Lusitânia de Lourosa have made some changes compared to last season, starting with the coaching staff. They now have a coach I know and whose qualities I recognise, and the players’ profile is also in line with Ricardo Silva’s ideas. It is a more technical team, with more quality in attack, also because many of the players who are the pillars of the structure have remained, very experienced players with many minutes in professional football and in the Segunda Liga, such as Fabinho, Arsénio or João Silva. For all these reasons, I believe this will be a Lusitânia de Lourosa side that will always try to stay near the top of the table, and it is a team we recognise as having a lot of quality and that we must approach as strong, capable of causing us problems, but we must also look at the opportunities we will have.”

Pre-season

“Assessing pre-season is also about looking ahead to this new season, in which there is a very strong desire from the players and the entire structure to turn dreams into reality. That only happens through work, and we worked very hard throughout this pre-season. We pushed the players to the limit of their physical and mental capacity. We challenged them to pursue new goals and step out of their comfort zone, and that was achieved during this pre-season. They have a lot of miles in their legs, but also great energy and a huge desire for this league campaign to begin, which also reflects our ambitions.”

The goals for 2026/27

“In the context of the B team, the objectives are very clearly defined: to help our players grow by winning, to develop while winning, always showing quality football. We know that at some moments that will be more difficult because of the B-team context — players not being present for match preparation or during the week — but that does not take away our responsibility. It fills us with pride to see our players involved and integrated in the first-team context; that is what the B team exists for. Now, when the game starts, our ambition is to win and to be better than the opponent at every moment with great courage and determination. That runs through the whole season. Last season is closed, we are, as our president said very well, that team that has nothing and wants everything, and we’re going after everything this season.”

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