THE FC Porto returned to work late this Thursday morning, at the Jorge Costa Training and Sports Training Center, in Olival, less than 24 hours after having beaten Académico de Viseu, 1-0 (thanks to a penalty converted by Santiago Giménez), and guaranteed qualification for the semi-finals of the League Cup.
The defending national champions gave the ‘starting shot’ in their preparation for the match on the tenth round of the I League, against Estoril, in a session in which Francesco Farioli gained a new ‘headache’, as a result of the medical examinations he underwent Chris Smalling was submitted.
In the form of a statement shared through official platforms, the structure headed by André Villas-Boas made it known that the English international, who gave way to Pablo Rosario, in the 54th minute of the reception to the Viriatos, was diagnosed with “an injury to the internal collateral ligament of his right knee”.
The central defender simply underwent “treatment”, and was joined, in the blue and white clinical report, by Vasco Sousa (which remains in a “conditioned training” regime), William Gomes (which was divided between the treatment room and the gym) and Oskar Pietuszewski (which was also due to the “treatment”).
The Portuguese continues to recover from a serious fracture in the fibula of his right leg (contracted almost a year ago), the Brazilian from a grade 2 sprain in his right ankle, and the Pole from a muscle injury in his left thigh, with no one knowing for sure when they will receive the ‘green light’ to return to the pitch.
The summer reinforcement is, in this way, a ‘card off the deck’ for the duel with the Canarinhos, which has the starting whistle scheduled for 8:30 pm (Mainland Portugal time) on Saturday, at Estádio do Dragão. The referee will be Miguel Nogueira, assistants Paulo Brás and Nuno Pires, fourth referee Vitor Lopes, VAR João Malheiro Pinto and AVAR Pedro Sousa.
Farioli calls ten ‘kids’ to training
To compose the working group, Francesco Farioli once again resorted to training layers. From team B, ‘promoted’ Antonio Ribeiro (22-year-old Portuguese central defender), Hjalte Froholdt (18-year-old Danish right-back), Martim Cunha19-year-old Portuguese left-back), Eirik Granaas (16-year-old Norwegian midfielder), Domingos Muxito (17-year-old Angolan striker), Cardoso Varela (18-year-old Portuguese striker) and Mom Niang (20-year-old Senegalese forward).
However, the ‘new faces’ didn’t stop there, as the Italian coach also called three players from the under-19 team to join the ‘big boys’, more specifically, Marco Silva (18-year-old Portuguese central defender), João Brito (17-year-old Portuguese midfielder) and Antonio Neto (17-year-old Portuguese midfielder), thus making a total of ten ‘kids’ in training.
The blue and white emblem has another round of work scheduled for Friday morning, in Olival, behind closed doors. Later, from 12:45 pm, Francesco Farioli will speak to journalists, also at the club’s complex, in the traditional press conference previewing the reception to Estoril.
