Sérgio Conceição made this Thursday’s preview to Estrela da Amadora-FC Porto, of the fifth round of the I Liga. The game is scheduled for 7:15 pm on Friday.
Market balance and Otávio’s departure: “”In some countries the market has not yet closed, which is extremely harmful for teams with less financial capacity. We are talking about timing and, for those who need it, it is always bad. It’s not normal to arrive the day before a game and have a key player who was going to play and who, after all, is going to leave. I’m talking about Otávio, because he has more than 280 games, was voted the best player in the last championship and was super important. It’s obvious to everyone. The timings are what they are and we are always in difficulties. Throughout the week Otávio was about to go to the game, on Friday I went into a clinic to have surgery on my knees and I left on Saturday with Otávio already sold. That morning, Otávio didn’t want to train, I left the hospital straight away to come to Olival, still not very well from the anesthesia, but on a daily basis it’s not that bad either… (laughter) It was difficult to lose a player of his quality, especially before a game. We can’t lose because we lost the championship by two points and the game with Farense was worth three. We won, but… And for us, who are very demanding in our work, from one moment to the next we change the team dynamics…”
João Moutinho went to Braga: “Just like (João Moutinho), who was talked about a lot. João had to do with that timing. The president spoke to me about that situation, looking, not at the past, because if he didn’t have to look at Vítor Baía, the Fernando Couto, Jorge Costa, but considering his recent past, it seemed to me that he was still in a position to help us. I even spoke to João on the phone at the beginning of this week. However, with Otávio’s departure, there was a adjust one or another situation in our market, depending on the difficulty we have, and the timing ended up not being the best, especially because for that position we have Romário Baró, a young man from the training; Bernarndo Folha; Nico (González), a young man with a future who the club invested in and who was already here; Alan Varela, Grujic and Eustáquio: six players for the position that Moutinho occupies. And at that moment, with Otávio’s departure, there were situations to adjust with the president. And as there is no such capacity from one day to the next, after losing one game or another, as happened with Al Nassr, to come here and get Otávio and give himself €20 million more than three weeks before , we had to talk for two or three about the balance that I think is fundamental for us to be competitive in all competitions, as we have been, and João chose to go to Braga. Now, João, like Quaresma, Pepe and the players I mentioned are part of the club’s DNA, everyone knows”.
