AND a weakened FC Porto that, in the early evening of this Saturday, will appear at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, to measure forces with Gil Vicente, following two potentially compromising defeats, in the league phase of the Champions League, against Real Betis and PSV, by 3-2 and 0-1, respectively.
The image that the dragons left in what is the biggest club competition in European football was not, at all, the best, so they will now refocus all their attention on the I League, where the scenario has been inversely proportional, given that they remain in the lead, with 24 points won out of a possible 24.
The objective is, of course, to ‘animate the troops’, but the task does not appear to be as simple as that, given that, ahead of them, Francesco Farioli’s men will have an opponent that is growing, coming from three consecutive victories, the last of which was against Sporting de Braga, in Pedreira, by 1-2, which precipitated the dismissal of Carlos Vicens.
The team led by Luís Pinto currently lives in 14th place in the table, with the same 14 points as Académico de Viseu (the last team in the ‘European zone’, which will visit Sporting) and Arouca (which has a meeting with Alverca), and knows that, by scoring points, it can ‘climb’ even further.
The Gil Vicente-FC Porto kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 pm (Mainland Portugal time), and will be judged by Luís Godinho, from the Évora Football Association, who will have Pedro Martins and Gonçalo Freire as assistants, Daniel Pinto as fourth referee, Pedro Ferreira as VAR and Leonel Ferreira as AVAR.
Coaches in direct speech
Luis Pinto
Good time: “When you win many times, responsibility always increases, because you start to look at things differently. We have to have this ability to want to have responsibility, to continue working in an ambitious and humble way, always with the courage to say that we want more.”
FC Porto with wounded pride: “It has the same matrix. The search for a game always at a very high level of intensity, always connected to the current. The paths are not the same, there are some nuances that were added to their game, but there are other paths that remain”.
Reunion with Farioli: “Our first game was against them and we had to look for things they did at Ajax to understand what that FC Porto could be. Then, when we played against them in November and January, there was already greater knowledge.”
Francesco Farioli
Dispute after the Champions League: “There is a desire to take advantage of any and every opportunity to plant a bomb in the surrounding area, to kill people or, at least, see some blood. It is a historical desire to divide, to make it easier to conquer, but I think that the strength of this group and this club has always been in the concept of family. We have spoken several times about the ‘Famiglia Portista’, and it is a moment of unity, not only because it is necessary, but also because nothing should take us away from that.”
Gil Vicente’s strengths: “There are different variations and solutions. It’s a very well-oriented team, which is in a very good form. We know very well how demanding it is to play there. It was like that, last season, and it will be like that, with the new coach”.
FC Porto suffering more than usual: “The fact that, in the last period, there was an accumulation of goals in a row is something that, of course, has to worry us and increase our attention. Then, we always need to think a little about the way we conceded certain goals, the things we could have done better collectively, the things we have to do better individually and the credit of the opponents, who manage to find, individually, the way to score goals. Everything has to be analyzed, but it’s not something that makes us think too much.”
Latest results
Gil Vicente: DEVVV
FC Porto: VVVDD
Last eleven
Gil Vicente: Lucão; Ricardo Esgaio, Jonathan Buatu, Marvin Elimbi, David Moreira; Andreas Lausen, Diogo Prioste, Santi García; Murilo Souza, Gil Martins and Mohamed Kaba.
FC Porto: Diogo Costa; Alberto Costa, Jakub Kiwior, Jan Bednarek, Zaidu Sanusi, Pablo Rosario, Victor Froholdt, Gabri Veiga; Pepê, Oskar Pietuszewski and Samu Aghehowa.
Absences
Gil Vicente: Mohamed Bamba and Arthur Tchaptchet (injured).
FC Porto: William Gomes and Vasco Sousa (injured).
