FC Porto coach Vítor Pereira has asked for “more of the same” as he leads his team into a tricky looking match at Gil Vicente on Sunday night.
The Dragons were back to their best in possibly their most impressive domestic performance of the season last week at home against Vitória Guimarães.
The drastically improved form of talismanic midfielder João Moutinho especially, along with the influential duo of Álvaro Pereira and James Rodríguez, will have been particularly pleasing to the Porto coach.
“Essentially I want to see a consistent and rigorous Porto, playing a hard-working and high-quality game, so that we keep up the level of performance of our most recent matches,” said Pereira. “I expect to see a mature Porto in Barcelos.”
Although still unbeaten in the Liga ZON Sagres, Porto go into the match trailing Benfica by five points and will be loathe to drop any further behind their bitter rivals before travelling to the Estádio da Luz in just over a month’s time.
“We know that our margin for error is minimal. We know exactly what we want. We have to put the individual talent at the service of the collective unit,” added Pereira.
Star man Hulk remains a doubt as he struggles to overcome a thigh strain, while the coach refused to indicate whether the match would see the full debut of new Brazilian signing Danilo, who made his first appearance as a second-half substitute last weekend.
Gil Vicente are always a tough team in their Barcelos home, as shown by the fact they have lost only once there all season. Indeed, they were a little unlucky to only get a draw when they played host to Benfica in their first game of the season.
And the sterling performance they gave in the return fixture in Lisbon last week, although ending in defeat, was further evidence that Paulo Alves has put together a team to trouble the best sides in Portugal.
Kick off at 7.15pm local time at the Cidade de Barcelos Stadium on Sunday.
The drastically improved form of talismanic midfielder João Moutinho especially, along with the influential duo of Álvaro Pereira and James Rodríguez, will have been particularly pleasing to the Porto coach.
“Essentially I want to see a consistent and rigorous Porto, playing a hard-working and high-quality game, so that we keep up the level of performance of our most recent matches,” said Pereira. “I expect to see a mature Porto in Barcelos.”
Although still unbeaten in the Liga ZON Sagres, Porto go into the match trailing Benfica by five points and will be loathe to drop any further behind their bitter rivals before travelling to the Estádio da Luz in just over a month’s time.
“We know that our margin for error is minimal. We know exactly what we want. We have to put the individual talent at the service of the collective unit,” added Pereira.
Star man Hulk remains a doubt as he struggles to overcome a thigh strain, while the coach refused to indicate whether the match would see the full debut of new Brazilian signing Danilo, who made his first appearance as a second-half substitute last weekend.
Gil Vicente are always a tough team in their Barcelos home, as shown by the fact they have lost only once there all season. Indeed, they were a little unlucky to only get a draw when they played host to Benfica in their first game of the season.
And the sterling performance they gave in the return fixture in Lisbon last week, although ending in defeat, was further evidence that Paulo Alves has put together a team to trouble the best sides in Portugal.
Kick off at 7.15pm local time at the Cidade de Barcelos Stadium on Sunday.
