Farioli turns Olival into a lab to win his first derby | OneFootball

FC Porto emerged victorious from the first major test of the season, prevailing on the home ground of the national champion thanks to a strategy outlined throughout the week by Francesco Farioli, who sought not only to fill the gaps in the squad but, above all, to neutralize the Sporting team in their own stadium.

For his first classic in Portugal, Farioli transformed Olival into a true laboratory of analysis and training, following the method he has applied since taking charge of the club. Every session, exercise, and debate on tactical design were meticulously planned, and the work began off the field. Together with the coaching staff, they dedicated many hours to dissecting the last 15 matches of Sporting led by Rui Borges, identifying patterns and how the opponent adjusts to different contexts. Then, individual analyses of rival players were conducted, with special attention to strengths, reactions under pressure, and situations that could be exploited.

On the field, the sessions were divided between collective and personalized work. The collective plan focused on the pressure to be applied at Alvalade—which would often force Sporting to launch long balls—defensive organization, and offensive circulation. In individual training units, technical details and physical condition were fine-tuned with a view to one-on-one duels.

Twice in the last week, Farioli enlisted João Brandão, calling up the B team for joint training sessions with controlled scenarios, that is, to reproduce game situations and test strategies in real time, such as playing against ten opponents, managing advantages and disadvantages on the scoreboard, and other tactical nuances.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.