THE FC Porto will host, this Saturday, at 8:30 pm (Continental Portugal time), Estoril, in a match counting for the tenth round of the I League, in which it is expected that Francesco Farioli will carry out a return to his origins, after the ‘experiments’ carried out, in the middle of the week, against Académico de Viseu.
The Italian coach gave minutes to some of the least used players, such as Cláudio Ramos, Dominik Prpic, João Souza, Gabriel Mec or Santiago Giménez, but the main surprise was the fact that he opted for a tactical system based on a line of three central defenders, without the team feeling resentful.
The Dragons won, 1-0, and qualified for the semi-finals of the League Cup (where they will face Benfica, who beat Gil Vicente, by a clear 4-1), but now, for the national championship, they must return to their usual style, both in terms of the system and in terms of names.
Chris Smalling, Vasco Sousa, William Gomes and Oskar Pietuszewski are ‘cards off the deck’, due to injury, against the ‘red bottom’ of the competition, given that, after nine rounds, they only have two points, as a result of seven defeats, two draws and zero wins, which leaves them in 18th and last place in the table.
FC Porto-Estoril will be judged by Miguel Nogueira, from the Lisbon Football Association, who will lead a team made up of assistants Paulo Brás and Nuno Pires, fourth referee Vítor Lopes, VAR João Malheiro and AVAR Pedro Sousa, in a match that will take place at Estádio do Dragão.
Scroll through the photo gallery and check out FC Porto’s likely eleven.
