FC Porto is returning home for matchday 12 of the championship and the next opponent the blue and whites are facing is Portimonense, led by someone who knows the Dragons well: António Folha. At the preview of the match scheduled for Friday (20h30, SportTV), at Estádio do Dragão, Sérgio Conceição praised the team from Algarve, talked about the upcoming 250th match as a coach, and also about the victory and being sent-off in the derby against Boavista (1-0). At the start of this round, the national champions are alone in the lead, with 27 points, two more than Sporting. Portimonense is 11th, with 14.

250 matches as coach
“I don’t really care about those numbers. My team and I focus on what the opponent is. Obviously, it’s 250 matches and to me it feels like I started yesterday, but I hope to reach many more, even if these are things I don’t care about that much. I’m more concerned about keeping the team focused and fully aware that Portimonense is a difficult team. Last season, they always scored against us, even if we did manage to win. They have individual quality and a coach that knows me and this house well. It will be an extremely difficult match and we need to take control of it and take our responsibility to try and get the three points, which are very important for our objective. I am always confident that we can win. We work with a great desire to win every match. Winning the next match is what matters, whether or not it has a special date associated to it. Our way of being and working is to always think of winning, but we are facing opponents with quality.

Mutual knowledge
“As we know each other well, it will be difficult to come up with surprises, but it will be FC Porto facing Portimonense, and not Sérgio Conceição against António Folha. I understand how he works and he understands how I work, but then there this entire dynamic and preparation for the match. I hope I’m more fortunate than he is tomorrow.”

Being sent-off in Estádio do Bessa
“No one likes to be sent-off. In the three times I was sent-off that people love to bring up, I was never banned because I never did anything serious that justified it. I was sent-off twice for leaving the coaching area and now for celebrating a goal enthusiastically. It was an intense derby, with a lot of fights, and we knew what to expect, but I wasn’t expecting Boavista wouldn’t play football. Against another candidate to the title, at Estádio do Bessa, Boavista did 12 fouls, but it was twice as many against us, with many others going uncalled. In the first 15 minutes, there were three or four minutes of playing time, and that’s when the referee started losing control of the match. It wasn’t football, it was a battle, with everyone on Boavista’s bench constantly jumping and consecutive fouls worthy of a yellow card. I celebrated with a swear word, I’ll admit it, but it seems I did something horrible. I can’t understand this. And then it was carried over to the television shows, where no one talked of the playing time or the cards that weren’t shown. When Éder scored that goal, did no one in Portugal say a swear word? Isn’t it normal to celebrate a goal with a little more enthusiasm? The goal Éder scored is what every goal FC Porto scores feels to me. I live them with passion. There are many people that prefer to talk of less positive situations rather than saying FC Porto won, that we are in a fantastic cycle of convincing victories. I saw one or two shows, for a brief time, and I was disgusted.”

Team is committed and believes until the end
“The team is committed and everyone notices that. The goals may be scored in the first or the last minute, but we always fight for it. The team needs to remain aggressive when looking for a goal, as we’re not even prepared to manage the match in any other way. We won with a goal scored 90+5 minutes in, but that goal could have been scored in the first-half. That means the team is focused, committed and believes until the referee signals the end of the match.”

Friend Jorge Jesus
“My friend Jorge Jesus lives the match like I do, and I never saw him being sent-off here. There were matches being our teams where he was next to my bench and we started talking. It’s coincidental, as the assistant referee that signalled me to be sent-off in the Supercup is the same that signalled me at Estádio do Bessa. It was the same one, for two identical situations. FC Porto stated what had to be said, and I explain myself, without hiding from anything.”

Jackson Martínez
“I always like to face the best players, that add something to a good show. Jackson is a player that everyone likes and an amazing human being. I never had the chance to talk to him, but that’s what I hear from the time he was at FC Porto. He is an elite player, that has been going through a bad time in the last two or three years, due to injuries. He is very passionate about what he does. I don’t know if he will play or not, but, if he does, I will talk to him and congratulate him for the career he had at FC Porto and for what he brings to football in general.”

The (very) short playing time in Portugal
“In one of the UEFA coaching forums, this was one of the subjects addressed, and I was told by people from UEFA that something would have to change. It’s something that always benefits the theoretically weaker team. I’ve been in that type of teams, but no one that claim that I told him to dive or waste time. Everyone is to blame, but the match in Bessa, for example, in the first 15 minutes, there was only three or four minutes of playing time. I blame the referee there, and, maybe, the coach and players.”

Everyone is important
“The spirit is good because everyone works in the same way. Everyone is equally important. Everyone feels important and our daily work is done thinking of all the players, so they can give the best response when called in. That isn’t easy, as there are emotional issues, and individual goals. They understand what matters the most is the team. In that sense, I have a fantastic group.”