Francesco Farioli: “No one celebrates titles at the start of December” | OneFootball

72 hours before the League Cup meeting, FC Porto returns to the championship in the 13th round, where they visit CD Tondela at 8:30 PM this Sunday at Estádio João Cardoso (Sport TV). In anticipation of “a derby of Italian coaches” against the team led by his compatriot Cristiano Bacci, Francesco Farioli immediately highlighted the need for the players “to be prepared and with the right mentality to restart the journey in the League.”

Deniz Gül has been declared fit and “will certainly be in the game,” Gabri Veiga continues to be monitored – he will “be tested again” – and the Dragons travel to Beira Alta aware that they urgently need “to react in the best way” to Thursday's setback. “We are only focused on ourselves. We gain nothing by thinking about hypothetical scenarios,” stressed the coach, who assures he wants “to fight for the different competitions” and reminds that “the League will not be decided at the beginning of December.”

Still on Vitória SC“It is important for us to react in the best way. It is a normal process because after each game we immediately start thinking about the next one and now it is time to refocus on the championship and on a team that changed its coach and now has an Italian coach. It will be a derby of Italian coaches, the first in the history of this championship. (Cristiano) Bacci and I were born in the same region and had several experiences outside our country. We don’t have many images of his games at Tondela, so we looked into his past, his time in Greece and Portugal, especially at Moreirense, to get an idea of his team, which will be well-organized and based on a 4-4-2, with some adaptations in possession. We don’t know if he will do something different, but we have to be prepared and with the right mentality to restart the path in the League.”

Gabri Veiga and Deniz Gül“They are under evaluation. I am optimistic about Deniz, he will certainly be in the game, but Gabri still took a test today to understand his situation. Tomorrow morning he will be tested again and hopefully, he can be in the game.”

The exit from the League Cup“It was a game at a very specific time, with several injuries and where squad management was a key factor. We did our best to qualify, it wasn’t possible, but there are positive signs despite the result, because we changed a lot and maintained our identity and way of playing. We lost another game with two penalties against us, which shows that it is not easy to score goals against us. We had very good opportunities, but unfortunately, we didn’t convert them. Now we have to react and understand that we will have more time to prepare, continuing to take steps forward in our journey.”

The Lisbon derby“We are only focused on ourselves. We gain nothing by thinking about hypothetical scenarios. We are focused on our journey and tomorrow’s game. Last night I felt like watching the game, but the channel wasn’t working on my TV and I couldn’t see it. I can’t add anything to that.”

Squad management“I strongly believe in the big and small picture. Being the coach of FC Porto means facing every game to win, let there be no doubt about that, but we have to be smart in managing the squad, the players’ physical condition, the cards… there is always something bigger than the game itself and I always choose the best eleven to win the games, but, for example, I didn’t want to risk Deniz Gül after receiving the news of Luuk de Jong’s injury. Deniz was already capable and I preferred to wait another three or four days to have him fully recovered. It’s a rational and logical matter, rotating and giving opportunities to all players ensures everyone enters with the right attitude and we have to continue like this if we want to fight for the different competitions.”

Physical and mental state“We are going to Tondela aware of the difficulties we will face. We are going to face a team that will do everything to achieve a positive result and we are not blind, we know what is happening around us, but we can only influence what we are going to do on the field. The focus always has to be there, we don’t do calculations and tomorrow will be a good opportunity for us. The League will not be decided at the beginning of December.”

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