The captain of FC Porto Pepe will miss the national champion due to injury, coach Sérgio Conceição announced this Friday, on the eve of the match at Portimonense, on matchday nine of the First Football League.
“I’m not talking about starting ‘eleven’ questions. Otávio is part of the 25 available elements. Unfortunately there isn’t one, which is Pepe, because he did it yesterday. [quinta-feira] a knee sprain with some severity. It will not be in this or in the next games. Otávio is already part of the group and will be available,” the coach shared at a press conference.
Pepe, 39, started 10 of the 12 official matches played by the ‘dragons’ in 2022/23, but will have to face another break for physical reasons, when the final phase of the 2022 World Cup ends, scheduled from November 20. to December 18, in Qatar.
Inserted in the last call of Fernando Santos, at the end of September, the defender was even fired from the job of the national team, after being considered unfit by the Health and Performance Unit of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF).
Pepe was absent, therefore, from the victory in the Czech Republic (4-0) and from the defeat at the reception against Spain (0-1), in matches corresponding to the last two days of Group A2 of the League of Nations , which made the presence of the 2019 winner impossible in the ‘final four’ of the race.
Before the break in the I League due to the commitments of the national teams, the FC Porto captain was no longer able to tie for physical reasons with Estoril Praia (1-1), on matchday seven, and should miss out on Sérgio Conceição’s options in the second day of Group B of the Champions League and in the reception against Benfica, on October 21, in the ‘clásico’ of the 10th day.
FC Porto, runner-up in the I League, with 19 points, three behind the undefeated leader Benfica, will face Portimonense, sixth, with 15, on Saturday at 6:00 p.m., in a match for the ninth day of the championship, with the arbitration of Manuel Mota, from the Braga association.
Source: TSF
