Portal dos Dragões
·8 April 2026
Xavi Malián: “Even if the goals are different, the mentality is the same”

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Yahoo sportsPortal dos Dragões
·8 April 2026

The second edition of Golden Gloves brought together FC Porto’s goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaches at the Jorge Costa Training and Football Development Centre, in a meeting where players and coaches from football and the other sports shared experiences and strengthened the bond between the Club’s various teams.
For Xavi Malián, the roller hockey goalkeeper, “it was very good to be able to meet all of FC Porto’s goalkeepers in person” and to “share experiences” with colleagues in the same position, since “even though the goals are different and the sports are too, the mindset is the same.”
Nélson Filipe, a former goalkeeper and member of the roller hockey coaching staff, described it as “a very good experience” and admitted he was “surprised” by the curiosity shown by the 80 young football goalkeepers, who “showed great curiosity about handball and roller hockey.”
Telmo Ferreira, handball goalkeeper coach, praised “an excellent initiative” and argued that it should be repeated, because it is always possible to “learn a little from everyone” and there is “always something in common” among the other members of the Porto family.
Xavi MaliánOne mindset“It was very good to be able to meet all of FC Porto’s goalkeepers in person. For me it was a pleasure and it was good to share experiences. Even though the goals are different and the sports are too, the mindset is the same and we learn many things. I hope this happens again.”
On the rink or on the pitch“Whenever I watch football on television, I think the goal looks smaller, but when I go there I realize the ball can go in from every direction and I see that it is very difficult…”
Nélson Filipe, roller hockey goalkeeper coachAn unforgettable experience“It was a very good experience, truly fantastic. I thank Diogo (Almeida) for the invitation, because we had the football and handball goalkeepers here with us, realities we do not know as well, and they help us understand that, although the objective is the same, the dynamics are different. It is always interesting to see how others work, and sometimes we can even find common ground to improve our abilities.”
Football and the other sports“We discussed some things that happen, especially in football, because with handball we have some contact in the arena and, every now and then, we have a few conversations about the position specifically. Not so much with football, but today we managed to see the dynamics of their work, how they react to game situations, and we will try to bring that into our work, even if only in training exercises or in dealing with situations that happen day to day, in matches and in training.”
The youngsters’ interest“We were surprised, because the most likely thing was that the questions would focus more on football, especially since we were here with young football players, but the truth is that they showed great curiosity about handball and roller hockey, which surprised us. We tried to convey the image of roller hockey, which is quite different from football, but we tried to show what the work of a roller hockey goalkeeper is like and I think they were excited by the equipment and by the position in goal.”
Telmo Ferreira, handball goalkeeper coachTo be repeated“This is an excellent initiative, I think everyone loved it and we hope it will be repeated. There is always room to learn; we talked a lot about that over lunch. Even though we are all goalkeepers and we are all different, we always have something in common. That is an added value for everyone, being able to learn a little from everybody.”
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.
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