The Portuguese League is back and matchday 11 has the leader FC Porto playing at Estádio do Bessa, to face Boavista, currently 17th in the table. The national champions come to the derby motivated to continue the streak of nine consecutive victories, with the challenge of extending the good moment, as Sérgio Conceição stated at the preview of the match scheduled for Sunday, at 20h00 (SportTV).

The blue and white coach is expecting an “intense and well played match, fair on and off the pitch”, and assures the team is prepared, as always, to “take the responsibility of the match” and get the three important points on the way to revalidating the title.

Difficulties and responsibilities
“These matches are always hard, as it’s an historic derby in the city of Porto. I hope it’s an intense match, well played, loyal on and off the pitch. We are always prepared to take the responsibility of the match and get the three important points for our goal.”

The situation with the rivals and the “exceptional match in the Champions League
“I shouldn’t comment, and there are already too many people commenting, talking. Seeing a colleague in this type of situation is something that doesn’t please anyone. The rest has been talked, comment and argued to exhaustion. And the importance given to negative moments is always bigger than anything good you do. Whatever positive thing you achieve is never as discussed as something negative. And the proof of that is the exceptional match we played this season and which was barely discussed during the week.”

Moment to continue
“We don’t care for statistics, even if we do keep an eye on them, but that’s not what makes us more or less confident. I’ve said it many times and when a player tells me he needs to play to gain confidence, I tell him the exact opposite, that he needs to gain confidence in training to play. And we really believe our daily work is important, who we are is important, the demanding way we prepare for matches, and that’s what has to give us confidence. Yes, we are in a good moment, but that will only last until the next moment, the match on Sunday. We need to keep this good moment and I think that’s a challenge for everyone, for the players, the coaches and the club.”

Adrián and the new life
“The way I talked to Adrián is similar to the way I talked to other players. For everything that is FC Porto, and knowing that he was on a loan, but belonged to the club, I wanted to watch him at first - knowing what he was like and what he had done in the past - and confirm his spirit joining us and FC Porto. And he showed me what he wanted, that he wanted to stay if I could count on him and felt he was important. “I knew his quality was there.”

Bazoer and the direction of the squad
“When I say there are certain situations that stay outside of Olival, this isn’t it, this is meant to stay inside. Bazoer is out, he won’t be going to Estádio do Bessa. Either way, you know how I think: when I see a bad behaviour, when I see the entire team going in one direction, but then there is one player that goes in a different direction, even if just a little but, that may be enough to lose the championship and I don’t want that. Whoever even thinks of going in a different direction will have a hard life to manage. And I’m not the only one thinking like that, the group is with me. I have truly committed players.”