Since becoming the coach of FC Porto, Sérgio Conceição always led the Dragons to the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup. This Tuesday, FC Porto beat Varzim (2-1), at Estádio do Dragão, for the quarter-finals of the competition, and is now waiting to see who will win the match opposing Académico de Viseu and Canelas 2010. After the match, Sérgio Conceição stated what matters the most: remaining in the Portuguese Cup.

The summary of the match
“We live for results. If we had played a great match and lost, there would be nothing but criticism tomorrow. We have to understand the context of the match, as several players that lack match fitness were sent in for this important match. I take responsibility for my options, but the team had every conditions needed to win and qualify, respecting Varzim. There are no easy matches nowadays. Varzim is having a good season and they hadn’t lost an away match for four months. Individually and as a team, we were better, but that’s theoretically, and we had to prove our favouritism. We could have had a better performance, but it’s always difficult to face a defensive team who is also intelligent when moving on the attack. The way we moved into space in our offensive midfield wasn’t always the best. We scored two goals and they scored one from a free-kick, in a foul that comes from an individual mistake. We controlled the match, but Varzim kept lurking for more. We wanted to qualify and we did. We then gave more minutes of play to Romário Baró and debuted Vítor Ferreira, a youngster with tremendous quality that has been working with us. In that sense, it was positive for us.”

Alex Telles going in at halftime
“I felt I should change the team to offer stability to the defensive line, especially on the right. It was a strategic decision. I’m counting on Saravia and he will play more matches. For this match specifically, I felt I should move Manafá to the right and put Alex on the left.”

Académico de Viseu or Canelas 2010 in the semi-finals
“We’re only thinking of Braga right now. Starting today, we will think of Braga and of the difficulties we will face. In due time, we will talk of the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup.”