Five wins is good, but Farioli eyes personal record | OneFootball

Farioli has had promising starts in his short career, but never before had he achieved five consecutive victories. Determined to surpass his own limits, the Italian coach seeks to exceed the streak he achieved while at Nice - and what an accomplishment!

In the 2023/24 season, leading the French club, Farioli had a remarkable start: he remained undefeated for 13 games - eight wins and five draws - and his team conceded only four goals, the best defense in Europe. This performance becomes even more impressive when remembering heavy-weight opponents such as Lille, Lyon, PSG, Monaco, and Marseille. The streak ended only in the 14th round of Ligue 1, with a loss against Nantes.

Despite a difficult phase between February and March - with only one victory in eight games - Nice recovered and finished the season in 5th place, securing a spot in the Europa League. In his stint at Ajax, in the previous season, Farioli started with four consecutive victories, but ended up suffering the first defeat in the fifth game, in the 3rd preliminary round of the Europa League, against Panathinaikos.

The five consecutive victories were precisely what the fans demanded after a weak second half of the 2024/2025 season, which ended up costing Vítor Bruno his job at the beginning of the year, and Martín Anselmi, after the lackluster performance of the blue and whites in the Club World Cup. In addition to identifying the squad's needs - addressed in FC Porto's biggest ever market, with an investment of over €94 million in 10 reinforcements - Farioli conducted a thorough assessment of the Portistas' expectations. In 10 weeks he transformed a team without stamina into an unstoppable force; today the blue and whites impose themselves by the intensity with which they contest every ball and the limited leeway they give their opponents.

The next challenges start with the tight schedule: in just 16 days FC Porto will play five matches, starting this cycle with Rio Ave and concluding with the classic against Benfica at Dragão, scheduled for the holiday of October 5th. In the short term, the team has three consecutive away games - Vila do Conde, Salzburg and Arouca - returning to Dragão only on October 2nd, to host Red Star, in the 2nd round of the group stage of the Europa League.

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