According to Sérgio Conceição, the elimination against Krasnodar, in the third elimination round of the Champions League, was “cruel”, but can also become a turning point to win titles. The coach, who understands the sadness and the disappointment of the fans, stated that he feels “fully powered” to achieve it.

Cruelty and reaction
“It’s painful, it’s cruel to concede a goal two minutes in, in a moment of distraction, then the second goal comes when we were on the attack, trying to tie, with the ball deflecting continuously and going to the opponent, ending in a goal we shouldn’t have conceded. The third goal was scored on their third shot on goal, with Alex Telles out of the pitch. It’s hard like this. The players had a great reaction, often without thinking, but with full belief that we could turn this scoreboard around.”

In synch
“The synch is complete. The chairman knows he can say anything to me. I have a tremendous strength. When I got here, FC Porto hadn’t won anything in four years and we became champions, we won the Supercup and we played the finals of the Portuguese Cup and the League Cup, we lost the championship by two points and we reached the Round of 16 of the Champions League in the first year, and the quarter-finals in the second.”

Poisoning
“The possibility that someone will want to leave is a talk that we will have regarding the best for FC Porto. I will never be a problem, I love FC Porto too much to be a problem. But the poisoning and the setting created around FC Porto is something new. I’ve been in football for many years and what was said about coach and staff, staff and coach, fans against the coach and the coach against the fans... it’s amazing. That’s not why we lost tonight, it was for my mistakes.”

Union
“I’m fully powered to build on this defeat and win titles this season. But that depends on what FC Porto, especially the chairman, wants for the team. I am sure that we remain the same [united]. It’s not easy, because we belong in the Champions League and now we will play for the Europa League, where we don’t belong. We understand the sadness and the disappointment of the fans, it’s the same we feel.”