This Friday, FC Porto beat Vizela (4-0), at Estádio do Dragão, and ended Group A of the League Cup in the lead, with seven points, qualifying to the quarter-finals of the competition, where they will face Gil Vicente at home. After the match, Sérgio Conceição admitted he didn’t like the first 45 minutes, but, in the second half, he saw the blue and whites true to themselves: “In the first half it was an entertaining match, but in a negative way. In the second half we were us, a more pressing team, taking up spaces better, and the goals came naturally”.

The resume of the match
“The objective was the same as always, which is to win. We wanted to play a match according to what we did in Chaves, which was very positive, but, in the first half, we didn’t play according to what we had prepared. We didn’t control the opponent’s behaviour and we had some difficulties applying pressure to Vizela, but we also lacked width and diversification in our plays when we had the ball. In the first half, it was an entertaining match, but on the negative side. In the second half we were us, a more pressing team, taking up spaces better, and the goals came naturally. It was a fair victory and another important step to reach the Final 4. Now we want to give a good response against Gil Vicente.”

A stronger FC Porto in Chaves
“Our match was more solid in Chaves, to be honest. Today, there were moments that I didn’t like so much, because we can’t allow the opponent to be comfortable with the ball. We are not an expectant team, but Vizela has good players, with good individual skill.”

A hard-working, quality group
“Besides being a working group with quality, we also have a group of very interesting men who are very serious about their work. They are grateful to the club that put them in their respective national squads, but the important thing is that we talk about FC Porto and they came back completely focused and with great ambition to make their contribution, be it in the League Cup or in the Champions League.”

The constant indications to João Mário
“As I’ve said several times, confidence is earned on a daily basis. If there were bottles of confidence available at the supermarket, I would go and buy them. We know that João, Rodrigo and even Manafá were wingers in youth, but, with time, they have polished some of the situations needed to play at a big club as fullbacks. We are focused on that work and João is part of it.”

The passing away of friend Sinisa Mihajlovic
“We had a strong connection. At Lazio, we had a group composed of great players, but also great men. Sinisa was a very important person when I arrived in Rome, he was a great friend and a great family man. He left too soon. I want to send my condolences to his family.”