Vítor Pereira: “Blue against red, an FC Porto-Nottingham…” | OneFootball

Vítor Pereira highlights FC Porto’s resurgence this season, especially in the way the club is trying to restore its “mystique.” In his preview of the Europa League quarter-final clash, the Nottingham Forest manager speaks of a meeting between “blue and red,” even if it is not a Portuguese football Clássico:

Return to the Estádio do Dragão

“I was at this club for eight years, five in the youth setup and three with the first team. I have many memories, but tomorrow I’m on the other side. It’s blue against red. In Portugal we have FC Porto against Benfica; tomorrow we have FC Porto against Nottingham, and it will certainly be a fantastic match. When you spend so many years at a club, the connection is very strong. They are in a strong moment, you can feel the energy and the hunger for titles. The fans are with the team, with the coach and with the president. It’s a difficult, special game, but with all due respect and the utmost gratitude, we came here to do our job. We’re going to play with confidence, with the intention of winning the game. I don’t believe there is any coach who prepares for a game in order to lose.”

FC Porto have not won back-to-back league titles since Vítor Pereira…

“FC Porto are a great club and still are. All great clubs live on victories and trophies; when they don’t win, they go through turbulent moments. I witnessed those moments, I followed everything closely and with a certain emotional connection. Right now, FC Porto are in transition, renewing themselves, believing again and rebuilding their mystique. Clubs are made up of weaker moments and moments when they rise from the ashes. I think FC Porto are on that upward path. Great sadness over the death of Pinto da Costa, someone incomparable in terms of titles and what he gave to the club and the region. The new president is intelligent and has ideas; he is trying to get the club back to the top again, to compete for the Europa League, the Cups and the league title.”

International break and Nottingham’s current moment

“This international break is a reality and there’s no way around it. After a win, we wanted another game straight away to make the most of that positive energy. Some of them went away with their national teams and we made very good use of the work on the training ground. Tomorrow it’s a meeting between one team whose coach has been there for two months and another whose coach has been there since the start of the season. I had to make the most of these days to try to prepare all the players for both competitions. It’s up to me to find a balance between one competition and the other. We always have to look at ourselves, at what we want to be tomorrow and what we will want to be against Aston Villa. I’ll have to manage playing time and the team itself, because otherwise I won’t be able to have the players performing with the intensity I like to see.”

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