The battle in Guimarães ended with a victory for the Dragons. At Stadium D. Afonso Henriques, FC Porto recovered in the scoreboard and beat Vitória, 2-1, despite conceding the first goal of the evening 17 minutes in. For Sérgio Conceição “it was not a fantastic game", but the outcome was “fair”. The blue and white coach explained that “if Vitória had tied, it wouldn’t have been questionable”, he recalled that the match was played “on a difficult pitch, in a difficult setting and against a good team”, but “what matters are three very important points” for the Dragons.

A worthy opponent
“Vitória has quality and is able to create danger. We started the game well, there was an opportunity for Evanilson and, after the penalty, in a harmless cross, Vitória was winning. We couldn't show superiority in the middle during the first half. There was misinterpretation of when we should use Evanilson in the direct play and we had worked on that. We never found the free man, merit of the opponent and our demerit. We saw Vitória attack quickly because they won the second ball constantly and created danger with quality players. We corrected in the second half, it wasn't a fantastic game, but it was competitive and we managed to win. We had the chance to kill the match, but couldn't and we held on to the result to the end in a difficult pitch, in a difficult setting and against a good team. The result seems fair to me, but if Vitória had tied it, it wouldn’t have been questionable. What matters are three very important points for my team.”

Initial difficulties
“In the first half, we lost many spare balls and duels. In these games, with difficult settings and galvanized opponents, there was a misinterpretation of the dynamics with the ball and it is fair to give credit to Vitória for the game they played.”

Zaidu
“He was stepped on, he was in pain and before that I felt he wasn’t doing well. We cannot forget the time he was out, the two games he played after the injury and recovering competitive pace is never easy. He had the merit of being there to score the goal and when I saw him in difficulties, I sent in Taremi and Galeno, lowering Pepê. It paid off, because we could have scored more goals. We should have been more aggressive in the different scoring zones, we showed potential to get there, but we have to be more effective.”

Benfica-Sporting
“Our focus is to work on this game starting tomorrow, realizing what we didn't do well, and preparing the team for continuous evolution instead of ups and downs. This has been upsetting me, because I see acquired behaviours that players know they have to do, but sometimes don't and there is no reason for it. One can make mistakes in technical moves, in other situations, but never in the intention of doing things well. That's our concern. As someone who loves football, I will watch the match, it is a derby between two rivals ahead of us in the table and obviously I will watch it.”