Portuguese media point to the title and title festivities for FC Porto and Farioli to PSV
1 min readFrancesco Farioli became national champion last week with FC Porto. Emotively, as the Italian coach is, many images circulated last week of the club celebrations in Porto in which Farioli regularly showed his emotions.
Portuguese media are still eagerly focusing a week after the festivities in Porto on the previous season of the Italian coach in the Eredivisie. A number of Portuguese newspapers gladly highlight the year of Farioli in Amsterdam because the Italian coach has now managed to win the league title. It even seemed as though Farioli would once again hand the league title to FC Porto.
A year after the late collapse at Ajax in the Eredivisie, the Italian manages it. At one point Ajax’s lead over PSV was nine points, but by the end of the season the Amsterdam club threw away the advantage, among other things due to poor coaching work by the Italian.
Thanks to the 1-0 win over Alverca, Farioli was able to celebrate a championship last week. "Both I and our team had something to prove this year. Last season we achieved something extraordinary at Ajax, but unfortunately it didn’t end the way we had wanted", Farioli emphasizes the situation at the end of the previous season.
"Football gives so much, but it can also cause an immense amount of pain. Today already, I’ve received a few messages from my players from last season. I think this title is also, in a small way, for them", the coach closes the subject of Ajax. Portuguese media wrote about Ajax’s lead over PSV last week.
'This season, the Amsterdam club has actually not been close to the title at any point, which also highlights Farioli's qualities. In addition, there have been three different coaches for the group in Amsterdam', wrote the football outlet A Bola about the current season in the Eredivisie, while the outlet once again emphasizes the league title for PSV and mentions the number of points of lead over Ajax. 'With Farioli, Ajax started the league with a 9-point lead over PSV, but then lost that lead again on the final matchday. Without Farioli, Ajax now has an enormous deficit to league champion PSV', said A Bola.
Comments5
A Bola basically tried to rewrite the Eredivisie with one-man logic.
I like that Farioli keeps talking about what the team had to prove and the messages from last season. The line about football giving pain and pleasure hits. Whether you agree with his Ajax coaching or not, his motivation clearly worked with Porto.
Honestly, it feels like Portuguese papers are still obsessed with Ajax and Farioli instead of just praising Porto. But fair point on how Ajax collapsed after that 9-point gap. Still, I think PSV fans deserve credit too, not just a comparison story.
I get why PSV fans would be happy to see Ajax get taken down, but it feels a bit too convenient to blame everything on Farioli. Nine points and three different coaches... that's not just one guy.
The fact that Porto media are already linking it back to Ajax is wild. Still, the 9-point gap vs PSV and then blowing it is the kind of detail that actually matters for the PSV fans.