This Friday, the FC Porto coach commented on the news that Cristiano Ronaldo would supposedly be interested in having Pepe -who ends his contract with the dragons at the end of the season- at Al-Nassr and the response was not without irony.
“Al-Nassr wants to form a team to win the Champions League, but it is not possible. They are on another continent,” said Sérgio Conceição at the press conference prior to the match against Casa Pia.
The Portuguese international is out of the game after a relapse of the injury he suffered in Portugal’s last game in the 2022 World Cup, but, more seriously, Conceição guarantees that the center-back is focused on the weekend’s game.
“The market is always at Olival’s gates. Pepe is what everyone knows and what he represents for the club is too strong. The connection he has with the fans, the club and the city itself… think about it. We think a lot about our objectives, what we have ahead of us at this moment and the most important thing is the match at Casa Pía”, guaranteed the coach.
Returning the focus to the championship, the dragons came close to the lead in the last round, after the defeat of Benfica in Braga. However, this result does not serve as motivation for the FC Porto coach: “We mainly look at ourselves and, as I said in the last preview I did with Arouca, the true motivation is here at home, in our work and in our players “. .”
The Dragons will have a tight schedule in January, but that’s a good sign for Sérgio Conceição.
“We are used to that. It is the calendar that we have, the different competitions that exist and it is a good sign that FC Porto is on all fronts. Hopefully there will be seven games, including a final, this January. Come on. work to make that happen and over time we will talk. Now the important thing is tomorrow’s game, ”he considered.
This weekend’s rival is the “surprise” of the championship and Sérgio Conceição expects a difficult match: “Casa Pia has been having an excellent championship. It has been the surprise team, so to speak, because all the teams that come from II Liga are competitive teams, and you can see that it’s really a team, because we look at the numbers and we see that they concede few goals. They have conceded one more goal than FC Porto and Benfica.”
“Of all the promoted teams in Europe, it is the best team, I was curious to go see it. Perhaps we are expecting one of the most difficult outings we are going to have. But, in any case, we have to look at this match and realize that they are three points in dispute that are essential for our trajectory and for our objective”, added the blue and white coach.
FC Porto travels this Saturday to the Estádio Nacional, in Jamor, to face Casa Pia at 8:30 p.m., on matchday 15.
Source: TSF
