This Tuesday, FC Porto lost to Roma (2-1), in Italy, for the first leg of the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

Casillas and Pepe stated the round is still open and that, at Estádio do Dragão, the team will go in focused on qualifying to the next stage. The second leg is scheduled for March 6.

Casillas
“Obviously, we didn’t want to lose, but this happens in football. It was a rather balanced match. We conceded the first goal in the second-half, in a quick play that we didn’t expect, and then the second came from an unfortunate moment for us. Our goal added a little fairness to the match, which opens the round for either team. Roma is in the first places in the Italian championship, which has great players. Playing on this difficult stadium, with a lot of pressure, I feel we did well. Thank you for the support of the fans. The entire team believes that we will be more dominant and stronger on the next leg, at Estádio do Dragão. Now we need to think of the next match for the championship.”

Pepe
“I think we did well, even if we didn’t get the score we wanted. We had character and took the initiative. Unfortunately, we made two mistakes and they scored two goals. The quarter-finals are at our grasp. We are fully confident of that. We will analyse our flaws and keep working on what we did well, to be even better for the second leg. The support of the fans was clear on the pitch and we wanted to offer them the victory. We have the second leg at home, in front of our fans, and we will do our best. We will go in stronger, more focused and determined to win and qualify.”