Villas-Boas on derby: Sporting stronger, but we’re up for it | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas commented on the classic match against Sporting, scheduled for Monday, during the World Cup Trophy Tour that is passing through Estádio do Dragão. On Friday morning, the FC Porto president admitted that the rival is going through a calmer period, but emphasized that this does not change the Dragons’ perspective regarding the game or the fight for the title.

“It’s an early stage of the championship, only the 4th round of the second half. FC Porto continues with its aspirations, which are to win the title, and so does Sporting. It will be a competitive, well-fought match, with the two teams in the best form at the moment, so to speak... They are aware that the opponent is tough, they are the national champions, and are currently stronger than FC Porto, who are coming off this defeat to Casa Pia, but we will play with our strengths, our style, our ambition, and motivation. In a packed stadium, we want to surprise our opponent and rebuild the 7-point lead we once had. That is our main goal, to fight for victory and achieve a points margin that is not decisive but is good to have again,” he began by stating.

When asked if, after the defeat to Casa Pia and the consequent reduction of the points lead over Sporting, it would be necessary to send a calmer message to FC Porto fans, Villas-Boas pointed the finger at the media. “Not at all. I understand the schizophrenia of some media outlets, trying to take advantage of an FC Porto defeat. FC Porto reached its historical highs at the start of a competition and I understand the excitement of some outlets that are clearly aligned in green this year and in past years, aiming to hype up the match even more. The championship will have its epilogue at the end of May and that’s where we want to see FC Porto in first place. The rest is show off and part of the spectacle, but we cannot fail to note this spread of the green wave by some media, some with red microphones, others blue, but all tending towards green.”

Villas-Boas immediately reinforced the idea of serenity and praised the collective work. “Calmly. Obviously, the coach has relied on the players, on the work, on his method, factors we recently rewarded with the coach’s contract renewal. We deeply believe in what he is doing at FC Porto, so there is absolute calm and maximum confidence in the team’s ability to respond to challenges,” he said, also highlighting the investment made in the market as proof of the blue and white ambition and the desire to reclaim a title that, if achieved, will have special meaning for the club: “We also recently finished a January transfer window where we strengthened in all positions, and this clearly demonstrates FC Porto’s ambition to win the title and respond to the members. It’s already been four years without the title in our hands and for us it is very important to win it again, to deliver it to the members, also in memory of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa and Jorge Costa, who mean so much to us.”

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