Farioli on Porto’s line-up: Focus is on Arouca, not the derby | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli spoke to Sport Tv about the reception to Red Star, showing confidence in the players who will take the field this Thursday. The starting team of the dragons underwent a profound change, which the coach associated more with the wear and tear of the game with Arouca than with the pressure of the classic with Benfica. He also had words for Ángel Alarcón and Zaidu.

Rotation in the starting team: "It's normal... We managed because we have had clean weeks, now no, we are tighter. I already did this at Ajax. I strongly believe in fresh energy, fresh legs and of course, we have to protect the players a bit... Besides, I strongly believe in the group and what the players are doing. And beware, there are several players who have already started several games as starters."

Looking at two to three games at a time: "In all clubs that have European competitions, with a projection of more than 50 games per season, we have to look at this. We only think about this game and nothing else, but we have to protect the players and keep them as fresh as possible."

Continuity of Bednarek: "It's a balance of everything. We have to see how the game will go... We have our plan, unfortunately with Nehuén's injury things are not as we wanted them at the back. And that's why he's going to play."

What he expects from Red Star: "They have a fantastic history, it's the biggest club in their country. It will surely be very competitive, we have to be prepared."

Choices taking into account Benfica: "It's not about the next opponent, it's more about Monday's game. A part with 10 players is difficult for everyone... For us the focus is this, it's this game, how we want to implement our game successfully. This Europa League format doesn't give many opportunities to waste points and even goals are important. We have to be prepared to fight from the first to the last minute."

Fear of losing identity: "I don't know if it's easy to name the key players... In the last games we even have great contributions from players who have come in, I think it's a good balance between all these factors. Alarcón was not giving everything when I started here, now he changed, he lost two or three kgs."

Internal message: "Yes. What we are achieving now is not because of one player or two, it's because of the collective spirit. There's that fantastic image of the 1-0 in Salzburg, but for me even better was the 4-0 for Zaidu's goal. The whole bench ran 80 meters to be with him, to be with him after the injury he had. We need to work with this passion."

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