 "PREVIEW Farense-FC Porto: window of opportunity to put pressure on the top two")
If they win in Faro, FC Porto will be one point behind Benfica and two behind Sporting, who only play on Monday. Peaceful Algarvians, they have nothing to lose.
Starting at 6pm, Farense and FC Porto face each other at the São Luís Stadium, in Faro, in the 19th round of the League. With 24 points, the Algarve team starts this round in a comfortable 7th place in the standings and the Porto players are 3rd, 4 points behind Benfica (2nd) and 5 behind leader Sporting. In case of victory, FC Porto comes closer and puts pressure on the two teams from Lisbon, who only play on Monday. The match will be refereed by João Pinheiro (AF Braga), who will have Bruno Jesus and Luciano Maia as assistants. António Nobre (AF Leiria) will be at VAR and Francisco Pereira (AF Santarém) at AVAR.
The history of clashes between the two clubs in the 1st league is made up of 49 games, with a clear advantage for FC Porto: 38 wins, six draws and five triumphs for Farense. In this Porto domain, at São Luís, FC Porto achieved 15 victories in 27 games, compared to six victories for Farense.
This supremacy has been more evident in recent clashes, with FC Porto undefeated – and always scoring goals – in 20 games with the ‘Lions of Faro’, having even won the last seven times the two clubs met. The last time Farense did not lose against the Porto team was on April 29, 2000 (1999/2000), in a three-goal draw in Faro: Marinescu (5′ and 44′) and Everton (81′) scored the goals from the Algarve team, coached by Spaniard Ismael Díaz, and Mário Jardel (16′ and 26′) and Drulovic (31), scored for FC Porto, coached by Fernando Santos. And, to find Farense’s last victory, we have to go back another half dozen years, to January 9, 1994 (1993/1994), with a solitary goal from Stevanovic five minutes from the end dictating the result. Paco Fortes (Farense) and Tomislav Ivic (FC Porto) were the coaches.
FARENSE
In the last four games, Farense recorded two wins and two defeats. In Rio Maior, in the duel with Casa Pia, José Mota left aside the 4x3x3 with which he has organized his team in most games and changed to 4x2x3x1, with a double-pivot (Cláudio Falcão and Facundo Cáseres) with defensive characteristics, providing greater protection to the defense. The good result obtained, in the triumph and greater defensive consistency, suggests that the system will be maintained, in the reception to FC Porto, which has also performed in an identical way, in the last few games. In forming the eleven, the coach has a base that changes little and will not have many doubts. The only one should be on the right flank, between the virtuosity of Belloumi or the explosiveness of Elves Baldé – who was a starter with Casa Pia. Rui Costa is an isolated case in the medical department, after the recovery of Zé Luís, who has already worked integrated and without limitations, and could even be called up again, more than two months after the injury to his right collarbone.
System: 4x3x3
Probable team: Ricardo Velho; Pastor, Gonçalo Silva, Zach Muscat and Talocha; Cláudio Falcão and Cáseres; Belloumi, Mattheus Oliveira and Marco Matias; Bruno Duarte
Injured or in doubt: Rui Costa
Punished: nothing to record
Featured: Bruno Duarte
With five goals and two assists, the 27-year-old Brazilian striker is the player with the most influence on the Algarve team’s finish in the championship, adding another accurate shot in the Portuguese Cup. In the game with Casa Pia, he assisted Marco Matias in the first and scored the third in Farense’s victory (3-1). He is the offensive reference of the ‘lions of Faro’ in the area and has been one of the essential players for coach José Mota.
José Mota, coach of Farense: «FC Porto is going through a good moment, with victories and good performances. The change in the game model has been positive. We have to be at our maximum concentration, realize that they are a very strong team and that they will have the incentive of the game, because they do it in every stadium. We intend to divide the game, be ambitious and at home do what we have done throughout the championship: be a very organized team, always fighting for the three points. And realize that we have our weapons. FC Porto fights for bigger goals, to be champion, and we, with our ambition, want to have a worthy championship. This is a game in which we want to perform well and counter the strength and power of FC Porto.”
Farense’s coach praises the Porto players’ qualities and believes that his team can create dangerous situations and make the game difficult for the Dragons.
FC PORTO
In the last six games – since the defeat against Sporting, on December 18th – FC Porto won five (three for the championship and two in the cups, the League and Portugal) and drew at Bessa with Boavista, in an increase in results and also visible in the quality of play, especially in the last three (Estoril, for the Taça de Portugal and SC Braga and Moreirense, in the championship), in which they did not concede goals. The defensive improvement is visible, with only one goal conceded, in the 1-1 draw with Boavista, in the last five games. With the canons he achieved his first victory by five goals this season and the game confirmed Evanilson’s scoring streak, who has won three consecutive games. Today, in Faro, FC Porto will have a good test to assess their rise in form and try to win again away from Dragão in the championship, which did not happen in the last two matches. Nico González should return to the eleven to replace Eustáquio, who had the flu, but was called up, unlike Grujic, who did not recover from the flu. Sérgio Conceição found stability in the eleven and that will be the only change to the team that started the meeting with Moreirense.
System: 4x2x3x1
Probable team: Diogo Costa; João Mário, Pepe, Fábio Cardoso and Wendel; Alan Varela and Nico González; Francisco Conceição, Pepê and Galeno; Evanilson
Injured or in doubt: Gonçalo Borges, Marcano and Grujic (flu)
Punished: nothing to record
Absent (in selections): Taremi (Iran, Asian Cup) and Zaidu (Nigeria, CAN)
Featured: Alan Varela
Increasingly adapted to Portuguese football, the Argentine midfielder has gradually increased his production and is in great shape. He is the pendulum of the Dragons’ midfield, a ‘Porto-like’ player, with a lot of determination and ambition, who doesn’t miss a ball, in line with other players with these characteristics and who have been missed, such as, in the most recent case, Uribe, with whom he has many similarities in this regard. In the 5-0 defeat of Moreirense, he adorned the great performance with the first goal he scored for FC Porto and also with his debut in assists, and then with two.
Sergio Conceiçãocoach of FC Porto: «A difficult trip awaits us, given the history of playing for São Luís. This year, I think that Farense achieved, after a few years away from the League, a very interesting consistency and a balanced team, difficult to face. The stadium itself is difficult. José Mota has done an extraordinary job, he has managed to make the team evolve in a very interesting way throughout the championship. A difficult game awaits us and we are the ones who have to figure out what to do to get the three points. Eustáquio and Grujic had the flu during the week, we will see their condition and decide whether to take them or not.”
The coach’s vision of the electoral act that shakes up the club, his distance as an employee, the market and the team’s tactical evolution.