At the helm of the squad since Wednesday--the day on which the Minhotos announced the departure of Álvaro Pacheco, Vitória's fifth coach this season--the club confessed "enormous pride and responsibility" for leading the club he has been a fan of for as long as he can remember and for helping it "make history" with a record 63 points in the championship, in the event of a triumph on Saturday.

"It's not the ideal scenario, as we all know. I'm a club employee, I'm part of the structure, and when they challenged me to play this last game, the club needed me. With a sense of mission, I'm going to try to do my best, together with the players, to win the three points," he said, in the preview of the challenge scheduled for 3:30 pm, in Arouca.

Grateful for the work and commitment shown by Álvaro Pacheco, the coach he was assistant to, the 31-year-old from Guimarães considered that the squad deserves to break this record after the difficulties faced throughout the season, even for the victorious responses he gave to the departures of the three previous coaches, Moreno, João Aroso, who led the team as interim, and Paulo Turra.

Questioned about the possibility of Saturday's clash projecting his career, Rui Cunha said only that he was focused on Vitória, in which the "players are well", after three days of training in which he was forced to make decisions, with a "completely different pressure" from what he had.

"The pressure is completely different from an A team to a training level, but the way of being in training is the same. The players have known me for two years. I've been working with them since Moreno took over the main team [in the 2022/23 season]. In three days, you can't change much. It will be what it was in the last games," he detailed.

The Vitorian coach for the final round of the season also considered Arouca, seventh classified, "one of the most versatile teams in the offensive moment", by gathering many elements in this maneuver, despite no longer having the best scorer of the season, Rafa Mujica, transferred to the Qataris of Al Sadd a week and a half ago after scoring 20 goals in the I League.

"They no longer have Mujica, who added a lot to the depth, but they will have another player who can do that job. We prepared the game in the best way. I feel that the group is focused and prepared for all scenarios," he said.

Rui Cunha also refused to comment on the process that led to the departure of Álvaro Pacheco, a coach associated with the Brazilians of Vasco da Gama, who announced a criminal complaint against the Vitorian president, António Miguel Cardoso, following the statements he made about the events that led to the departure.

Vitória de Guimarães, fifth classified in the Portuguese I League, with 60 points, faces Arouca, seventh, with 46, in a challenge scheduled for 3:30 pm on Saturday, at the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Arouca, refereed by Bruno Pires Costa, from the Viana do Castelo Football Association.