FC Porto failed to reach the Portuguese Cup final after tying 0-0 with Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday at Estádio do Dragão in the second leg of the semi-finals. After a match in which “we have to accept what happened on the pitch”, Francesco Farioli acknowledged that “the result wasn’t what we wanted” and said that the Lisbon side came to Porto to “waste time”: “We dominated them in every aspect”. “Now we have a few days to prepare for the next game and we must be ready with the standard of quality that the League demands of us,” he added, referring to the away trip to Estrela da Amadora for the league (Sunday, 18h00, Sport TV).

The nil-nil in the Classic
“I’m very proud of our performance. Tonight it was very clear what we did and what the others did. We didn’t score the goal we deserved, but we completely dominated Sporting Lisbon at all times, with 11 players and with 10 players. They came here to waste time, and we crushed them at every level. Let me make this very clear: FC Porto is back! We lose a bit of our composure when we see certain things happening, but I’m very proud to coach this team of fantastic players. With the exception of this tie and the Europa League round, in which we were knocked out, I haven’t seen any team better than us yet. We have to accept what happened on the pitch, but the outcome wasn’t what we wanted.”

A lengthy half-time break
“Our fans even set off fireworks when they saw Sporting Lisbon returning for the second half after a 22-minute break.”

The opponent should have been someone else
“We can’t keep going through the same old story. Under normal circumstances, this semi-final should have been against CD Santa Clara or against AFS.”

The finalist should have been FC Porto
“In terms of effort and spirit, we played a great game, in the first half and even more so in the second. If we look at the two games in this tie, we undoubtedly deserved to be in the final. I’m very proud of the team; we dominated in the first and second halves and put in an incredible physical performance.”

The refereeing team’s performance
“We tried everything; we gave it our all. We did our best. You’ve seen some footage, some situations. I could go on repeating a situation that has been happening repeatedly since the start of the season, but I’m already starting to lose my patience with this issue. Everyone has seen it and continues to see it. A few weeks ago, I spoke of a grey area that had turned green. In another match, this very same referee made a decision which, applied today with the same criteria, would have awarded us a free-kick on the edge of the box and left Sporting Lisbon a man down in the opening minutes. It was one of several incidents in this match. It’s becoming a habit, but it’s hard to stomach this sort of thing. From now on, we have one trophy to win.”

Kiwior at left-back
“He’s already played a few games in that position; he gives us control, quality on the ball and is very physically strong. He’s a player who can play in various positions.”

One chapter at a time
“We like to think in terms of different chapters. Today’s was the Portuguese Cup, and everyone saw how much we wanted to win. Now we have a few days to prepare for the next match, and we need to be ready to meet the standards the League demands of us. We’re here to finish the job we started a long time ago. When I arrived, the aim was to close the gap on our rivals, but today, at least in the League, we’re where we want to be. In the Cups and the Europa League, we’ve come close to the finals. We still have games to play and plenty of points and challenges ahead of us. We’ll keep our focus on what lies ahead, and right now that’s Estrela da Amadora.”

The chat with the players in the circle
“What I told the players was to be proud of what they’ve done. We were brave and played at full throttle. Sporting Lisbon is a great team and two-time champions, but today we pushed them to the limit and they used every trick in the book to stop us. Today we deserved at least a goal, but we have to accept the result, turn the page and move on.”