It is in Arouca that, on Monday night, an important episode of the fight for the title of national football champion takes place: after Benfica’s victory over SC Braga, FC Porto has to win to get within four points from Benfica, being able to build a five-point lead over Braga. But the task is not easy to guess.
A motivated team and a full stadium is what promises, in TSF, the president of FC Arouca, Carlos Pinho. The hosts think mainly “of the game they want to play”, although on the other side there is a team “with ideas of still reaching the title”.
It turns out that the Arouquenses also have their own objective in mind: “to stay in fifth position”, which gives access to the Europa Conference League qualifiers, and for this they promise “an interesting and well-played game” with victory as the goal.
“We are going to have the stadium practically, a party in Arouca of which we are very proud,” says the head of the club.
Led by Armando Evangelista and occupying fifth place in the League with 48 points, one more than Vitória SC, sixth, the home players “have confidence in the work they have been doing”, but there is even an extra motivation to sleep European: FC Porto is the only one of the “big three” that those from Arouca have never won.
Already in the final stretch of the season, and in retrospect, Carlos Pinho praises the “interesting and well-worked season” by the coach and management, a reason for “great pride” for the path traced “from the beginning”.
Arouca-FC Porto is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. this Monday, according to a report from TSF and monitoring of tsf.pt.
As for the casualties, Tiago Esgaio is suspended and the central defender João Basso -the best defender of the last month in the League- will only know if he will play when he is re-evaluated, ascertained TSF.
On the blue and white side, coach Sérgio Conceição is suspended and will not be on the bench, like Uribe. Thus, the center of the field will have to yield in the hands of Grujic and Eustace.
Source: TSF
