Pepe regretted the wasted opportunities in Famalicão, but praised the character of the Dragons
On the first matchday after the interruption of Liga NOS, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, FC Porto failed to get points in the trip to Vila Nova de Famalicão. Pepe was in the starting team, playing the full match, and, in the end, was disappointed with the lack of efficiency of the team in face of the opportunities created. Still, the experienced 37 years old central defender praised the team for “never giving up”, as they’ve “already proven this season”.
If you don’t score, you concede
“It’s difficult. When you create so many opportunities, in the first-half, enough to end the match... This is football. If you don’t score, you end up conceding. We conceded two goals we did not expect, but we need to get up and fight. There are nine matches left, the team has to fight for it. This team never gives up, we’ve proven that this season. This is the restart we wanted, but we need to get up and keep working, believing in what left us in the lead of the championship, as there are still many matches to play for, and we will fight until the end.”
Goal had the blue and white superiority and anxiety
“My analysis is that we created many opportunities. In the first-half, Famalicão almost didn’t leave their midfield. The second-half started with a mistake we made. Unfortunately, it was Marchesín, but the entire team is to blame. We managed to tie the match, but we were anxious to make it 2-1, and ended up conceding a goal that wasn’t in our plans. I think the match came down to that, as we were the better team. They had two occasions to score, two shots in the second-half, and scored on both. We had 16 opportunities, against four or eight from them, and they won. That’s football. Now we have to keep working and believe in ourselves. We can do it and that’s what this club and these players will do until the end.”
Keep working, with humbleness and serenity
“This isn’t the result we wanted, obviously, as we wanted to win and stay in the lead. But we need to remain calm, keep our feet on the ground, and working as we have been doing so far, with humbleness and serenity, so that, in the future, instead of missing so many goals, we can score and win the match. Because that’s what we all want.”
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