FC Porto lost to Sporting de Braga, 2-1, at home, in matchday 17, the last of the first turn of the championship. Sérgio Conceição stated it was an “unfortunate match”, as the blue and whites deserved the victory, still praising the “tremendous determination” of the team.

Bad luck
“It was an unfortunate match. The goal came from a corner-kick out of nowhere. We tried to recover. Until the first 15, 20 minutes, we matched their style of play. After that, we were better than them, missed two penalties, but showed character to react, creating situations that we should have concluded differently. Braga had some luck.”

Keep fighting
“We dropped Danilo further back so he could stop their fullbacks, who were very offensive. We created dangerous situations, three or four in the last 15 minutes. Their goals came from nowhere, we were unlucky and deserved to win; even the tie would have been unfair, but that’s football. All of us are unhappy. Now that the first turn ended, we can’t lose more points, as that can be the end. There are many more points to fight for, and I have a group that makes me believe it is possible to reach our objectives. No one gives up. When things work out, everything is easy; being in this situation is difficult, but we are still here, strong. And we will be training tomorrow.”

Taking responsibility
“The consequences always affect me, the coach. The team had tremendous determination. It’s true that we, sometimes, reacted more with our instinct that with our heads, but our attitude was good. I take full responsibility for what happened.”