After a home victory against Vitória de Setúbal (4-0), FC Porto qualified to the Round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup. Analysing the match, Sérgio Conceição talked of a “solid performance” for the Dragons, and added that the round allowed for a “management” of the squad.

Qualification to the next round
“The match was difficult for several reasons. They have a new coach, and we didn’t know how they would play, they were bound to be extra motivated with the change, and we were missing many players during the preparation. This is a competition we want to win. We started by trying to break their defence and then we did the best with the space behind their defenders. Even before the red card, which was fair, we dominated the match and, obviously, it just got easier after that. We would end up scoring, sooner or later. We did everything we worked on and we are still fighting for it. It was a good performance for my team.”

Several options in the squad
“No one is more important than someone else. Depending on the match, I make my choices and everyone offers me guarantees. We have two options for each position. And then it depends on the moment of each player. I believe we actually have a more balanced squad than last season.”

Internal discipline
“If the players are available, that means we took care of it.”

Fatigue management
“I looked at where the players were in terms of fatigue and we did our management. After that third goal, it was only natural to rest those who have been playing the most, such as Corona or Danilo, and offer playing time to Aboubakar, for example. But we always manage the team with our eyes on the opposing goal.”