The defeat in Barcelos, at the start of the Portuguese League, is over for Pepe, who wants to turn the focus of the team to this Tuesday’s match, at Estádio do Dragão, where FC Porto will be fighting for the qualification to the play-off of the Champions League, against Krasnodar.

After the victory in Russia, where the goal scored by Sérgio Oliveira made all the difference (1-0), Pepe aims at using the same tactic and the same “soul” for the second leg of the third elimination round of the Champions League, which will be broadcasted live and exclusively on FC Porto TV and Porto Canal at 20h00.

At the press conference that followed this Monday’s training session, at Estádio do Dragão, the Portuguese international talked of the importance of the match and of “honouring the shirt”.

Give the fans the joy
“Tomorrow will be a special day for all of us, important for all the players. It is extremely important that we all remain together tomorrow. Players and fans. I believe tomorrow will be a special day for of us.”

The same spirit
“The team is playing with the same spirit of the first match. Only half of our job is done and the rest will be extremely hard. What matters now is to look at the future, as we know what we did wrong. What matters is tomorrow’s match, against Krasnodar, and we hope to have given a great joy to everyone by the end of the match.”

At the best level
“We have to be at our best level to have a good match and to honour the shirt we wear. Every player is important, everyone works to deserve their opportunity. It’s up to the coach to choose. We work every day so that we can be happy when it’s all over.”