DAfter taking a break on Sunday, the FC Porto squad resumed work at the Jorge Costa Sports Training and Training Center in Olival this Monday morning. At the start of preparations for the clash against Académico de Viseu, in a game relating to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and scheduled for Wednesday night, at Estádio do Dragão, coach Francesco Farioli called… 12 ‘reinforcements’.
Defenders Hjalte Froholdt, António Ribeiro, Salvador Gomes and Martim Cunha, midfielders Eirik Granaas, Gonçalo Oliveira and Bernardo Lima and forwards Cardoso Varela, Anhá Candé and Mame Niang, all from team B, worked under Francesco Farioli. The duo formed by João Brito and Rúben Barbosa, from the under-19s, also worked with the main team’s squad.
Vasco Sousa, William Gomes and Oskar Pietuszewski should be left out of Farioli’s account for this League Cup clash, a trio that is handed over to the medical department.
The Portuguese midfielder and the Brazilian winger were already part of the blue and white clinical list, while the Polish international joined more recently, after being removed from FC Porto’s eleven in the visit to Gil Vicente, last Saturday, even before the opening whistle in Barcelos. Pietuszewski felt pain in the warm-up period and promoted Borja Sainz, the Spanish striker who would score the only goal of the match (1-0), to the starting lineup.
“We have to see. It’s on the other leg. It looked like a spasm to us, but we have to evaluate it to have complete information”, explained Farioli, at a press conference.
FC Porto updated, less than 24 hours later, the young winger’s clinical situation, confirming a “small muscle injury to his left thigh”.
“Following the physical complaints presented during the warm-up for the game against Gil Vicente, referring to the ninth round of the Liga Portugal, Oskar Pietuszewski underwent additional tests and was diagnosed with a small muscle injury in his left thigh. The Polish international winger became part of FC Porto’s clinical report and has already started the treatment process under the care of the Health Department”, it could be read.
Meanwhile, the sports press guarantees, this Monday, that Pietuszewski can recover in time to be called up for the next clash in the championship, scheduled for Saturday, against Estoril, but that he will not be part of Farioli’s options against Académico de Viseu on Wednesday.
Second duel with the Viriatos this season
FC Porto will face the Beira team for the second time this season, as they already had to travel to the Fontelo Stadium, at the end of August, in a match on the 4th round of the I League, leaving Viseu with a 3-0 victory.
In a total of 16 games throughout history, FC Porto has never lost against Académico, and the last time the Beira Alta team traveled to Estádio do Dragão they were ‘dispatched’ with the same result (3-0), in the 2nd leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals.
