Samu is the only Porto striker with more than one goal in 2026 | OneFootball

The start of the new calendar year did not go well for Francesco Farioli’s team, who suffered their first league defeat and saw Sporting cut the lead to just four points on the eve of their visit to Dragão. It’s true that FC Porto won five of their other matches and recorded a draw with Plzen, which had no impact on the Europa League standings, but it has been noticeable that they are struggling to win and to score goals. In seven matches, only 11 goals have been scored—two from penalties and another “gifted” by Santa Clara’s goalkeeper. The causes of this drop in performance are several and Francesco Farioli, more than anyone, has already identified them, but one stands out: the decline in output from the most advanced players.

The numbers are clear: between August and the end of December, Samu, Deniz Gul, Pepê, William Gomes, Borja Sainz, Rodrigo Mora, Gabri Veiga, and Froholdt—the players who usually operate in the final third and have the greatest responsibility for finishing—scored 48 of the team’s 56 goals. In percentage terms, they accounted for 85.7% of the total. Since the start of 2026, that share has dropped drastically, now standing at 54.5%.

Borja, Pepê, Gabri Viega, and Froholdt, for example, have yet to score in this calendar year, and FC Porto have already played seven matches. Among the rest, only Samu has managed to find the net more than once (2), although one of those goals was from the penalty spot and the other resulted from that aforementioned gift from the goalkeeper, giving him one of the easiest goals of his career.

With Sporting approaching, Farioli will seek to sharpen his players’ aim at Olival. In any case, for both coach and fans, the priority will always be to win, regardless of who appears on the scoresheet.

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