{"id":12714,"date":"2026-05-27T03:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T03:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=12714"},"modified":"2026-05-27T03:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T03:16:17","slug":"i-had-loser-stamped-on-my-head-how-portos-francesco-farioli-bounced-back-porto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=12714","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I had loser stamped on my head\u2019: how Porto\u2019s Francesco Farioli bounced back | Porto"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A<\/span>fter Francesco Farioli surrendered a nine-point lead in his final five matches at Ajax, he felt the word \u201closer\u201d had been stamped across his forehead. Clubs that had pursued him quietly stepped back and his rise abruptly stalled. Now, after an impressive campaign at Porto, the 37-year-old is again one of Europe\u2019s most sought-after coaches.<\/p>\n

Porto\u2019s title triumph, wrapped up with two games to spare, came 12 months after Ajax\u2019s collapse enabled PSV to become Dutch champions. It is a sign of Farioli\u2019s status that he was linked with Chelsea before they appointed Xabi Alonso, raising fears among Porto supporters of an early departure. They remember what happened 15 years ago when Andr\u00e9 Villas-Boas was prised away to Stamford Bridge after winning the league. Farioli, though, insists the club and fans have nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI feel I need to go again and push again \u2013 now the expectations are even higher,\u201d he says. \u201cThree weeks ago, from the outside, I had big question marks on my head. Now there is an exclamation mark that needs to be confirmed and proved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villas-Boas is Porto\u2019s president these days, voted in just over two years ago, and the trust he placed in Farioli has been good for both parties. Porto had gone three seasons without the title before Farioli\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really looking for a club with people who had the same motivation I had \u2013 a spirit of overturning a failure or something that went wrong \u2013 after the very heavy season I had at Ajax,\u201d Farioli says.<\/p>\n

The Italian inherited a Porto squad that had experienced a chaotic season marked by two managerial changes, a third-placed finish and the loss of Champions League football. But Farioli saw an opportunity to restore dignity to the club and his career.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Francesco Farioli gets a soaking from his Porto players. He says he had to \u2018change the emotional atmosphere around the team\u2019 when he arrived.<\/span> Photograph: FC Porto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe president\u2019s decision to give me this opportunity was remarkable, especially after a year with two young coaches (V\u00edtor Bruno and Mart\u00edn Anselmi) already,\u201d Farioli says. Choosing a third one \u2013 and someone who had \u2018loser\u2019 stamped on his head \u2013 was not a rational move. But Andr\u00e9 Villas-Boas had faith and deep belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farioli\u2019s path has differed greatly from that of most elite managers. At 23 he was studying philosophy at the University of Florence and he started working in top-level football as a goalkeeping coach under Roberto De Zerbi at Benevento and Sassuolo. His first head coach role came six years ago at Fatih Karagumruk <\/strong>in Turkey, when he became the youngest manager in Turkish top-flight history. Since leaving that country he has spent a season each at Nice (finishing fifth), Ajax and Porto.<\/p>\n

With those three teams he recorded the best defensive record in the league, Porto conceding 18 goals in 34 matches last season. Their change in attitude under Farioli was unmistakable. Porto pressed relentlessly, never backed down from duels and stayed united in difficult moments. The commitment was obvious to supporters, who applauded the players\u2019 effort in every match.<\/p>\n

\u201cMetrics like total distance, high-speed running and sprint distance have been very reliable indicators for us throughout the season,\u201d Farioli says. \u201cIn almost all matches we managed to outperform our opponents in these areas, and that gave us important confirmation about the effectiveness of our physical planning and workload management.\u201d<\/p>\n

The squad also united emotionally after the death of Jorge Costa, the football director, at the training ground in the opening days of the season. The club flag that covered his coffin was hung <\/strong>inside the stadium from one of the stands \u2013 a constant reminder of what they were fighting for. Farioli held tightly to one sentence Costa uttered in his final days: \u201cWe have a team again.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Farioli has given his players an anonymous questionnaire as he prepares for next season: \u2018They had the freedom to hit us with a bazooka.\u2019<\/span> Photography: ALE\/FC Porto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As part of his reboot Farioli took new players to the club museum. \u201cPorto needed to reconnect with certain values and rediscover the mystique that, in recent seasons, had partially faded away,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it was also essential to change the emotional atmosphere around the team: to bring back enthusiasm for the work, serenity inside the environment, and the desire to feel like a true team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Farioli, the goalkeeper is the keystone tactically \u2013 creating numerical superiority in the first phase of buildup and attracting pressure to open central spaces. In Diogo Costa, the Portugal keeper who passes with the poise of a midfielder, he found the ideal fit. Costa can pinpoint the free man under heavy pressure. \u201cThe goalkeeper has a very particular perspective on football because he sees the game globally,\u201d Farioli says.<\/p>\n

In front of Costa, the Polish duo Jan Bednarek and Jakub Kiwior formed a towering defensive wall. Often they were the only players behind the halfway line as Porto operated with an exceptionally high defensive line.<\/p>\n

Just ahead of them stood the team\u2019s breakout star, Victor Froholdt. The 20-year-old Danish midfielder, signed for \u20ac20m (\u00a317.3m) from Copenhagen, was initially regarded as a risky investment but is now considered as a bargain. Relentless out of possession, incisive on the ball and decisive in the final third, he scored eight goals and assisted six.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The goalkeeper Diogo Costa, pictured with the club president, Andr\u00e9 Villas-Boas, has been pivotal to Francesco Farioli\u2019s style.<\/span> Photograph: Rita Franca\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In some matches Porto held more than 70% possession \u2013 though at times the risky structure was punished. The most glaring example: Martim Fernandes\u2019s own goal against Nottingham Forest, a heavy back-pass that caught Costa out of position and ultimately cost Porto the tie.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery quickly opponents started studying our way of playing in great detail,\u201d Farioli says. \u201cTrying to interrupt our buildup, limit our initiative and suffocate our game became a recurring theme.\u201d What saved Porto? \u201cAn adaptive mentality to keep finding solutions,\u201d he says. Players rotated and dynamics adjusted, but the team\u2019s core principles, also including wingers to stretch the opposition, remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

Farioli has invited his squad to offer their opinions on next season. \u201cA few days ago I gave them an anonymous questionnaire to fill out, so they had the freedom to hit us with a bazooka \u2013 me and the coaching staff \u2013 telling us what they liked and didn\u2019t like,\u201d Farioli says with a smile.<\/p>\n

As Porto prepare for the Champions League, Farioli steps into the next phase of his career no longer carrying the label that threatened to define him. A season that began in doubt ended in conviction: Porto have rediscovered their mystique \u2013 and Farioli is back on the rise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After Francesco Farioli surrendered a nine-point lead in his final five matches at Ajax, he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}