"It will be an extraordinary final between clubs that I represented and for which I have a lot of affection and love. I hope, above all, that it can be an excellent advertisement for the end of the season, after having had a beautiful and competitive championship, and that it is truly a positive advertisement and a strong sign of the Portuguese football brand. That is the great objective that I want for this final. More than [knowing] who will win, that it is truly a springboard for our football, because we need to value the Portuguese football brand," he pointed out, in statements to the media.

FC Porto, the second most titled club in the competition, with 19 successes, seven below the record holder Benfica, and Sporting, third, with 17, will face each other on May 26, starting at 5:15 pm, at the Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, for the decisive match of the 84th edition of the Taça de Portugal.

If the 'dragons' try to achieve the only possible trophy in 2023/24, the 'lions' try the seventh 'double' of their history, and the first since 2001/02, the season in which Beto worked with the 'green and white' main team, but did not play any match.

"Sporting has not been this close to reaching a 'double' in more than two decades. It is close to that, just as FC Porto is close to winning at least one title this season. There is a lot at stake for both teams, but, above all, there is prestige. The dice are cast and there will be no shortage of ingredients. I hope it is truly a great show for those who will watch it," stressed the former goalkeeper.

Beto Pimparel, 42, won the Taça de Portugal twice with FC Porto, in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons, the latter under the technical guidance of the recently inaugurated president of the club, André Villas-Boas, who defeated Pinto da Costa, the 'blue and white' leader for 42 years and 15 consecutive terms, in the elections of April 27.

"I wish André Villas-Boas all the luck in the world. Apart from having been my coach, he is a personal friend and, at this moment, he is the president of one of the clubs for which I have an absolutely extraordinary affection. The only thing I can wish him and FC Porto is success and luck. André Villas-Boas has the capacity and competence," he observed.

Beto contributed to the conquest of three of the four trophies celebrated by the former coach in charge of FC Porto in 2010/11, including the championship, the Taça de Portugal and the Europa League, and was an unused substitute in the success in the Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup.

"I think he has already changed something. What happened in the elections also reveals a little bit of his credibility. He had a resounding victory and that means that people believe in the project, but without losing mystique and DNA. I believe that André Villas-Boas is here to make FC Porto an even more successful club," he acknowledged.

The former 'blue and white' goalkeeper (from 2009 to 2012), who joined two spells at Sporting (from 2000 to 2004 and in the 2016/17 season), the club where he finished his training, was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the first field of the Footpark project, which involves 32 mini-football pitches aimed at communities, in Senhora da Hora, in Matosinhos.

The event was attended by former Portuguese internationals Ricardo Quaresma, Diamantino Miranda and Fernando Mendes, by the president of the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP), Pedro Proença, and by the leader of the Porto Football Association (AFP), José Manuel Neves, in addition to the political entities of that municipality in the district of Porto.