FC Porto beat the Dutch FC Twente 2-1 in a pre-season friendly at Estádio do Dragão. In his debut on the home bench, Francesco Farioli assured that “there are no friendly matches and winning is always important”, especially against “a very physical and strong opponent”. “We tried to do the things we have been training and showed good mentality, spirit and desire to compete until the end. This is just the starting point”, the Italian coach stated in the aftermath of the friendly. 

A single goal
“For us, there are no friendly matches, winning is always important.”

Down to 10 men
“The red card affected the rest of the game. We wanted to play 11 against 11 and so did Twente, but these things are part of football. The level of competition was very high, we played against a very physical and strong opponent. I know them well from last season. It was a good game with 11 and when we went down to 10 as well.”

First test
“We tried to do the things we have been training for, we showed good mentality. The spirit and desire to compete until the end were there. This is just the starting point. We are at the beginning of a very short pre-season and this morning some players got some minutes against CD Feirense. We are overloading the players with a lot of physical work and information. We are continuing the process and want to improve for the next games.”

First impressions
“It is very important that all players are competitive. We gave minutes to several athletes, including the younger ones, and everyone is having the opportunity to show that they have a key role to play.”

Rodrigo Mora
“He was important, he is important, and he will be important. There is no doubt about that. He is here at the service of FC Porto like everyone else, he has been working hard, and now he has to understand the new dynamics, just like everyone else. I know he will help us as much as he can.”