Europa League: Salzburg vs Porto! Europa League record far worse than Champions League, is the away team’s motivation questionable?

Today’s first topic isthe Europa League: Salzburg Red Bull vs Porto!

It’s somewhat amusing that Porto’s coach Farioli, last season leading Ajax in away European matches, frequently criticized the poor quality of the opponents’ fields.

Now that he’s with Porto, he continues this behavior.

You see, he openly complained about Salzburg’s home ground, using very harsh words like terrible, disgraceful, disastrous, unsafe for players, and so on.

From my perspective, his remarks are partly a genuine complaint, but also likely a way to prepare people psychologically.

Because this match, which appears to have a significant gap in strength, might hold a slight upset potential.

The popularity between the two sides should naturally differ.

Since Salzburg’s recent form is very poor, while Porto’s is excellent.

Salzburg has clearly been declining over the past few seasons; not to mention the international stage,even domestically in Austria, they currently sit only in fourth place.

Moreover, in their last match, a national derby against Graz, they lost at home.

What level is Graz? They were just dismantled by Midtjylland early this morning.

If Salzburg can’t even beat Graz, their fighting spirit is probably not very strong.

Meanwhile, Porto is in phenomenal form this season!

They have won all 6 games in the Portuguese league, even beating the defending champions Sporting Lisbon away, conceding only one goal in total, which is quite extraordinary.

Such a team naturally enjoys high popularity and strong confidence from fans.

However, here’s a situation: since winning their only Europa League title in the 2010/11 season, Porto has played 32 Europa League matches over more than a decade, winning only 9 times—a win rate of 28.12%, which is even much worse than their Champions League record!

This is quite unreasonable, since the quality of teams in the Champions League is obviously much higher than in the Europa League.

Yet Porto performs far better in the Champions League, and this is not just for one or two seasons but has been the case for many years!

There is only one explanation: Porto may not prioritize the Europa League much.

So, this season, playing so well in the league,with genuine hopes of winning the title,they probably are even less willing to waste energy on the Europa League.

Here’s a point: hiring Farioli was likely not aimed at European competition.

Farioli is a young coach with good league results—leading Nice in 23/24 to the best defense in Ligue 1, even better than PSG, and last season with Ajax they finished just one point behind champions PSV.

But his experience in European competitions is very limited,last season with Ajax was actually his first time managing in European matches.If Porto wants strong European results, hiring him is questionable; many coaches are much more experienced in Europe!

Managing a top club in Europe is very complicated because of the challenges of balancing fitness, training, and preparation across two competitions.

Farioli lacks experience and his tactics are not very suited to competing on two fronts, as he relies heavily on high pressing.

This season,Porto’s high pressing is the best in the Portuguese league,but the cost is high physical exhaustion.

Porto already has many injuries, including De Jong, Varela, Perez, Costa, and others,so their rotation options are limited, and with two competitions, they don’t have much stamina left for intense pressing.

Even if they do tonight, they might not be willing to push themselves too hard because the league schedule is tight, and during the National Day holiday they face bitter rivals Benfica; what if more players get injured? That’s a big risk.

Meanwhile, Salzburg Red Bull has very strong ball control, leading the Austrian Bundesliga in possession and pass count,and with a clear gap at the top, it’s inherently difficult to press such an opponent, especially considering the physical demands of competing in two tournaments.

Moreover, this is Salzburg’s home ground; although Farioli calls their stadium disgraceful and disastrous, Salzburg clearly feel comfortable playing there, which explains their impressive passing and possession stats. Porto’s usually dominant high pressing in the Portuguese league may struggle to be effective here.

Therefore, despite the large difference in market value and recent form, under these special circumstances, can Salzburg satisfy their fans? What do you think? I hope they at least avoid defeat!

Alright, for today’s other matches, I will still send you written insights tonight. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. Let’s watch the games with full understanding, see you then!

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