Francesco Farioli decided to ‘reward’, this Sunday, FC Porto’s main squad with a day off, following the victory achieved, the day before, over Gil Vicente, by 0-1, in a match counting for the ninth round of the I League, which was resolved ‘by the lift’ of a goal scored by Borja Sainz.
In the form of a note shared through official platforms, the structure headed by André Villas-Boas made it known that the team will “return to work this Monday, at the Centro de Treinos e Formação Desportiva Jorge Costa, in Olival”, to begin preparing for the quarter-final game of the League Cup, against Académico de Viseu.
This game, remember, has a starting whistle scheduled for 8:30 pm (Mainland Portugal time) next Wednesday, at Estádio do Dragão, and which will be the reunion between two teams that have already faced each other, in the current 2026/27 I League sports season, just after the fourth round.
At the time, remember, the defending national champions went to the Estádio Municipal do Fontelo to ‘rescue’ a victory over Bruno Pinheiro’s men, by a resounding 0-3, as a result of accurate shots from André Silva, Gabri Veiga and William Gomes, at the 5th, 20th and 38th minute, respectively.
This was, moreover, one of the nine defeats achieved after so many other rounds by the blue and whites, in the I League. which gives them a record of 27 points won out of 27 possible and consequent isolated leadership of the table, with an eight point advantage over second placed, Benfica, who will still visit Santa Clara.
Académico de Viseu, on the other hand, is in sixth place in the national championship, with 14 points, as many as Gil Vicente, but has in its hands the opportunity to ‘take off’ from the Minho team, this Sunday, at 8:30 pm, if it is able to ‘do the trick’ against Sporting, when traveling to the José Alvalade Stadium.
Farioli maintains two ‘headaches’ for the League Cup
It seems that Francesco Farioli will not be able to count on two players in the reunion with Académico de Viseu. They are William Gomes and Vasco Sousa, whose names continue to appear in FC Porto’s clinical report, with no scheduled date for them to receive the ‘green light’ to return to the pitch.
The Brazilian winger, remember, is dealing with a grade 2 sprain in his right ankle, contracted on October 10th, in the victory achieved in the visit to MarÃtimo, by 1-2. Since then, he has missed games with Real Betis (3-2 defeat), PSV (0-1 defeat) and, more recently, Gil Vicente (0-1 victory).
The Portuguese midfielder, for his part, has not played since December 14, 2025, when he suffered a serious fracture in the fibula of his right leg, during the heavy defeat suffered by Moreirense (the club for which he played, on loan), at the Estádio Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas, against Benfica, by 0-4.
