A few hours after FC Porto’s rout against Sp. Braga, which ended a two-game series without a win against Club Brugge (0-4) and Estoril (1-1), Pinto da Costa was present at the World Azul e Branco, an initiative organized by elements of various houses of dragons distributed throughout the country and around the world with the aim of honor the club president for 40 years of leadership. And it was also that he made a speech with some points in common with what he had done in the distinction made this week by the Porto Football Association, the same day that FC Porto celebrated its 129th anniversary.
Blue and White World ????⚪
???? “All together we make FC Porto”
Tribute from all the FC Porto Houses to the 40th anniversary of the Presidency of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa#WorldAzuleBranco pic.twitter.com/f1YQ4dDyh3
— FC Porto (@FCPorto) October 1, 2022
“This is a moment in which FC Porto has a lot of difficulties, like all the clubs in Portugal. We are overwhelmed by taxes and without state aid. But we will continue fighting to win and to toast nights like yesterday [sexta-feira] to our fans, in which we really show what it means to be FC Porto. We are here from all over the country, almost from all over the world. Therefore, it is important to make it clear that the campaign carried out by some television panelists wants to convey the idea that we are FC Porto against the country. We are not. We are FC Porto against centralization. We have the same admiration and affection that we have for the athletes from the Algarve, such as Minho, Trás-os-Montes, Azores, Madeira… We all make FC Porto together”, began by pointing out Pinto da Costa, who returned talking about the future of the Blue and Whites and also of his presidency that began in 1982.
“When it’s over, I hope it will take a long time to upset some, rest assured that I will carry you all in my heart. I still have all the dreams in the world. And those dreams include all possible victories in all forms of FC Porto, but also the well-being of all the dragons, of each one of you”, he added, before recalling anecdotes he had in the club houses.
The Blue and White World event takes place ????⚪
Tribute from all the FC Porto Houses to the 40th anniversary of the Presidency of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa #WorldAzuleBranco pic.twitter.com/Bwj5TOr5yY— FC Porto (@FCPorto) October 1, 2022
“My children and my wife often say that for me FC Porto is my life. It’s not just my life, it’s a big part of it. My first manager card is from 1962, most of you weren’t even alive. All the socialization that I had in our homes was very important to me throughout these years. From north to south, abroad, I always found moments that gave me strength and encouragement. I will never be able to forget the visits that I have made throughout these 40 years, sometimes in moments when I became discouraged and I was left with a strength that you cannot even calculate. If I’ve been at the helm of FC Porto for 40 years, I also owe you a lot. I traveled to Toronto, with 1,500 people, who the next day had their wrists open for so many autographs… The trips to Afurada, Madeira… They all remain in my memory and above all they will never leave my heart while it beats”, highlighted the leader of the dragons.
Tribute to Casas FC Porto on the 40th anniversary of the Presidency of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa ????⚪#WorldAzuleBranco pic.twitter.com/PljBO70IXf
— FC Porto (@FCPorto) October 1, 2022
At the same time, Pinto da Costa also addressed the case of the boy from Famalicão who watched a Benfica match bare-chested to target a few more commentators. “I listened, amazed, a few days ago, things on certain channels that made me say: ‘If this world isn’t completely insane, at least some of it is.’ To take off a child’s shirt in Famalicão, and very well, because it was a place where, by law, visiting fans could not be. This was talked about on television for a few days and they asked a Mr. Mauro, or Mouro, I don’t know, in those ‘Ups and Downs’, what El Alto was. Alto was something from Benfica, and Baixo was Pinto da Costa, because he didn’t talk about the boy from Famalicão. And then I saw something even more incredible: a man who said on television that this unfortunate and cowardly attack on Sérgio Conceição’s wife’s car was due to the speech against…”, concluded the president of Porto’s fans.
Source: Observadora
