FC Porto returned to victories in the League by beating Desportivo de Chaves, 3-0, in matchday 32 of the competition. After the match, decided by Francisco Conceição, Evanilson and Mehdi Taremi, Sérgio Conceição stressed the need to show “great ambition, commitment and determination” to add to the “strategy and organization” of a group of “professionals” with “more individual quality than the opponent”. “We have to take more advantage of this, regardless of the fact that we no longer can win the championship. We always have to feel the weight of playing for a club like FC Porto and the passion for football", the coach explained.

Shy start
“The main objective of each of the players has to be to represent this club in the best way, every day. I'm talking about great ambition, commitment, determination, and this is seen, but I think we started the game without flair and without passion. We talk about strategy, organization, finding the space… when you don't associate everything we do, which is to run with passion, it’s harder for me to understand what we do. I told the players that this was missing in the first 15 minutes. Then we started to get into the game, we had the goal situation, Junior Pius was sent-off and the events of the game were in line with our team. Either way, I think we could have and should have started with more flair, even though the players ran and tried their best to win. They were professional, no doubt, but when you have joy, pleasure and a sparkle in your eye, things get easier. We have more individual quality than the opponent and we can unlock the game more easily.”

Own experience
“I played football, I was there every day, and when I was a kid I played on the street without shoes, I only got my first shoes when I was 13. The players have to realize this. Despite feeling many difficulties because of my knees, at home, against my kids, I am still competitive and I want to win. I have a huge passion for the game. It sounds like we have one of those professions that are a burden, like working on construction sites from morning to night, but it's not. We are blessed to do what we like, what many people would love to do and cannot because they didn’t have the opportunity or talent. We have to take more advantage of this, regardless of the fact that we no longer can win the championship. We always have to feel the weight of playing for a club like FC Porto and the passion for football.”

Another debut
“We had some players injured, others banned, and we decided to have Gonçalo Sousa on the bench. He is another kid, I am very happy for his debut, I hope it will be the first of many games for FC Porto, because he has a lot of talent. Now he needs to associate this talent with other fundamental characteristics to reach the top and stay up there. I am pleased with another consistent game from Martim in a young team with 11 players on the sheet who came from the formation. It makes me happy and it makes the fans happy, mainly because we won. I can debut 11 youngsters from the start, but I will be subject to criticism if we don't win, and rightfully so, because we live on results.”

90 games and 11 goals for Francisco Conceição
"António Oliveira is the one to blame for this, because he used to play me as fullback and if I had played upfront, I would have scored more goals. It’s important that the family stays connected to this huge club called FC Porto. This fills us with pride and is a huge pleasure. I am happy for Francisco, Martim, Gonçalo and all the kids with talent who grow, get thrown into matches, give a positive response and can be added value to the club, because that is the most important thing."

Taremi’s future
“As you saw today, he is a fantastic professional, he played as if he had ten years in his contract left and that for me is the most important thing. It would be stupid not to use a quality player with a contract until June because we think he will go to another team next season. There are other players who may leave with four years left in their contract and sometimes don’t have the ability to give what Taremi has given us and continues to give. Today football is like that, it's not just FC Porto, the players reach a certain age and the clubs start thinking of the costs. The decision of the board is this, the players’ decision is the same, and we have to respect it. Taremi has been a fantastic professional, I like him as much as I like all the other players, because they are all my children, but those who give the most in training or can be important in a given game are the ones that play. If I think it is important that someone starts the game, they do, if I think they should go to the bench, they do, and if I think they should stay at home, they do. Tarem is treated like everyone else, like other players who have been in the same situation with me.”