FC Porto cemented their lead in the league with a home win against SC Braga on matchday 10 (2-1), and Francesco Farioli praised the “fighting spirit” of a squad that “showed great maturity” and achieved “a great result against a great opponent”. After acknowledging that “tonight's three points were very important”, the Italian coach turned his focus to the future: “We have a long way to go and we have to think game by game, without relaxing”.

90 minutes summarised
“We feel good because we played against a very aggressive team that plays good football and has a great coach. We knew it was going to be a very open game, and we created the best chances. In terms of momentum, we could have capitalised on the game earlier, but the team's fighting spirit was fantastic. There was a great effort and the players who came on made an excellent contribution. We had Gabri Veiga's assist, Borja's goal, Deniz Gül's contribution, Pablo Rosário recovered countless balls and Martim Fernandes helped us in difficult situations. It's a very important result and now we're going to move forward.”

All players count
“We've had several examples of the importance of players coming off the bench, and today was another one of those days.”

A different scenario than usual
“Until half time, the game was going well and we were managing it as we had planned. At the start of the second half, we suffered more because SC Braga started to have more possession. Even so, we didn't concede any big chances other than from set pieces and shots from outside the area. I think we did well, we controlled the game without the ball at times, unlike what we are used to. This is football, we will face several opponents and we have to be able to adapt when the opponent demands it. This was an excellent test of maturity and a great result against a great team.”

Pablo Rosario
“We needed strength in midfield. SC Braga played very intensely, quickly and moved well. We needed legs to keep up with them and I felt we needed someone like Pablo Rosario who, in my opinion, was key to regaining control of the game. After that, I wanted to bring creativity with Gabri and, coincidence or not, the assist was his.”

Three important points
“Given all the circumstances and considering the opponent, it was an important result.”

The referees' criteria
“The good thing is that if we want to learn, there's always an opportunity. We have to train on a smaller pitch when we attack and a larger one when we defend. I've realised that we can't touch our opponents, because it's immediately flagged as a foul and results in a yellow card. We'll train this too.”

Game by game
“It's good to have 28 points. Now we have to shift our focus to FC Utrecht and only then think about FC Famalicão, which is one of the teams that is having a great moment, as are SC Braga and Gil Vicente. We have a long way to go. We have to think game by game, without relaxing.”

A hard-working group
“It's hard to explain how grateful I am to these players and the way they train and help the team grow and improve day after day.”

A fair result
“I'm happy with the performance and the result. We knew that SC Braga would come here to make life difficult for us. It was a game in which every move could change the dynamic, but nothing happened that we hadn't anticipated, and I'm as happy with the performance as I am with the result.”

Mora and William in place of Gabri and Borja
“These are decisions. We have a very long season ahead of us, with several games to play, and I think both Rodrigo Mora and William Gomes had a good impact on the game. After that, Gabri Veiga and Borja Sainz came on strong and drove the team to victory.”

A divided game
“The game wasn't fluid for either side. We recovered several balls, including balls that were with their goalkeeper, something they couldn't do, we recovered balls in our area. We expected them to play like this, and although we played more with Diogo Costa and had more long balls than usual, it was a reflection of SC Braga's man-to-man pressure, and we had to attack the space.”

The importance of being effective
“It's always key, but for me, the most important thing is the hunger to shoot at goal, and Borja's goal is an excellent reflection of that. There were other moments when we crossed and didn't reach the ball by a few centimetres.”

Man-to-man marking
“SC Braga is one of the few teams that defend man-to-man, aggressively and with many individual duels. We do it too because we believe it's a big advantage, and they're in great form. The game could never have been very different with two teams with this identity and desire. What ended up being more difficult was the fact that all our contacts turned into fouls, unlike our opponents, who were able to play with their hands, feet, slide tackles and everything else. These circumstances changed the course of the game, and unfortunately, it wasn't the first time this has happened.”

Cards shown to the bench
“It would be important to have the same criteria in all games. Of course, after winning so much, having good results and 28 points, it's easier to stay calm. Everyone can see this, for me it's very obvious and of course it causes some nervousness. The players on the pitch did very well, even though it's not easy to control your emotions.”