Ferreira's Porto ambition undimmed

FC Porto may have lost a number of key players over the summer, but for coach Jesualdo Ferreira the ambition remains the same: "At Porto we cannot live without winning," he told uefa.com. Drawn in UEFA Champions League Group D alongside APOEL FC, Chelsea FC and Club Atlético de Madrid, that ambition will be put to the test on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge where, according to the 63-year-old, the Portuguese champions will be ready for the challenge.

uefa.com: Your first match is against Chelsea. Would you have preferred a slightly easier opening game?

Jesualdo Ferreira: I think Chelsea at the moment are the strongest team in England team so to play at Stamford Bridge isn't going to be easy for us, but over the last three years we have always qualified for the next stage. There will be a moment where we can achieve what we want which is to win the game, but I recognise Chelsea are very strong. There’s a great wining culture in the Porto squad and great ambition. Porto and Manchester United have made the most appearances in the Champions League [15 each] and five years ago we were European champions so our ambition is normal and wanting to win is normal. We are aware of the difficulties we face, but we also have our pride and know we are capable of having a good game in England and getting a good result. What we really want is to advance, but we are conscious that Chelsea are favourites in the group.

uefa.com: Lisandro, Lucho and Aly Cissokho were all key players for Porto last season. Following their departures should we expect the way the team plays to change at all?

Ferreira: No, Porto's model never changes. As well as those three, others have left over the past three years, but we still won the title each year and qualified for the Champions League. The style might be different because individual players and their characteristics bring their own style, but I hope it's not going to be such big a difference as to jeopardise us doing well in the Champions League.

uefa.com: Do you expect the team to be stronger or different?

Ferreira: It's fundamentally different, just as last year Porto was different from the previous year when we won our group in the Champions League.

uefa.com: Which of the new recruits have surprised you most since the start of the season?

Ferreira: We have filled the gaps left by Cissokho, Lucho and Lisandro absence by bringing in Álvaro Pereira, Belluschi and Falcao who are all international players: one from Uruguay, one from Argentina and one from Colombia. They are adapting to the club and the country and obviously to the team's style of play at the moment.

uefa.com: How do Porto manage to remain competitive despite selling their best players each year?

Ferreira: Because, as I said before, the club has a winning culture. It imposed itself in Europe even before it imposed itself it its own country. It's a club that has a mass of very demanding fans and has a very competent administration. We find players that allow us to rapidly achieve what we want and have a great ambition to play at the top. They are players who until they get to Porto don't know what winning is. We don't bring in players who have won everything, we bring in players who have never won anything so that they will want to win in the future.

uefa.com: You have won the Liga title in each of your three years as Porto coach since arriving in 2006. How do you do stay motivated having won so many titles?

Ferreira: Because at Porto we cannot live without winning. I couldn't be at Porto if I didn’t want to win.

uefa.com: How have Porto progressed since you took over in 2006?

Ferreira: Porto have been winning in Portugal without much opposition. They win because they are the better team. At international level they have more difficulties at certain moments, particularly against English teams or teams that have great financial resources compared to Porto. The way we work at Porto, though, helps the players improve their tactical knowledge and to get to know the game really well. Because of the collective, the team is able to beat teams that are stronger. That is it. There are no secrets, just hard work and huge desire to do well.

Jesualdo Ferreira spoke to uefa.com at the eleventh UEFA Elite Club Coaches Forum in Nyon, Switzerland