Porto end season with Santa Clara, Farioli demands full commitment | OneFootball

With no longer any chance of reaching the 91-point mark in the league — a benchmark set by Sérgio Conceição in 2021/2022 — following the unexpected defeat in Vila das Aves against the bottom side, FC Porto now turn their attention to the final game of the season, a match in which Francesco Farioli wants total commitment from everyone in the home clash with Santa Clara.

The coach did not hide his irritation with the defeat in the 33rd round, a match in which he felt there was some complacency from certain players after opting for a so-called “second string” lineup. Lack of aggression and poor finishing were the reasons pointed to by the man who brought the national title back to FC Porto, although, between the lines, he went even further in criticizing the attitude of certain players.

“We have to be the team we have been in the other matches. It is not normal to see FC Porto lose and concede three goals. Last week we got ‘soaked,’ which felt good [because of the title]; this time, not so much. We are playing at a level where we cannot afford distractions. You saw the way AVS celebrated every play... Our aggression, our desire to attack the ball, the finishing... I don’t know how many touches we had in the opposition box, but I think it was more than 50. And the balls that went across the face of goal... There we need to be aggressive enough to turn those chances into goals,” lamented Francesco Farioli, clearly displeased with the display of the blue and whites away to already relegated bottom side Aves SAD.

The eight changes made to the starting eleven compared to the match against Alverca — which ended with the Dragons winning their 31st title — did not produce the desired effect. The drop in intensity, when intensity had always been the trademark of the new national champions in 2025/2026, allowed Aves SAD to grow into the game and literally bring the Dragon down.

The relaxation felt by the players in the days following the title celebrations in the Portuguese league cannot, in Francesco Farioli’s view, take away focus from the commitments FC Porto still had ahead of them. That did happen against Aves SAD, but the Italian coach is now demanding a strong response from his players in the title celebration match in front of the blue-and-white fans, where the target is to reach 88 points.

Francesco Farioli was reportedly tough in his halftime team talk in the last match, but after drawing some conclusions about certain players, he is expected to return to the formula used against Alverca; in other words, to rely on the usual starters for the match that will bring the national champions’ season to a close on Saturday afternoon at the Dragão.

After suffering their second defeat in the competition — the first had already come in the second half of the season, in Rio Maior, against Casa Pia — FC Porto exposed defensive weaknesses rarely seen this season, as they conceded three goals in a single match, something only V. had managed in the League Cup.

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