Despite having been at Porto only for a few months, Miguel Layun appears to have taken up a leadership role at the Portuguese club.
The Mexican defender/midfielder took to the media Tuesday after Porto were defeated 2-0 by Kiev Dinamo in the Champions League, calling for his teammates to move on from the defeat and have courage.
"We will have to show the courage we have already shown on other occasions and we cannot let this defeat affect us," Layun said.
Porto are still well withing the range of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages, put will have to achieve a positive result against Chelsea ion their next match. Porto are tied with Chelsea atop Group G with 10 points, but Dinamo now have eight points, enough to knock Porto and Miguel Layun out with a win and a Porto loss at Chelsea.
"Tonight we just could not score goals in important moments, we were not able to take the most of the opportunities," Layun said.
Layun called on his teammates to focus on moving forward, and not live in the past, even though this was a winnable match.
"We can only think of how we can improve in the next match."
If they don't improve in the next match, it will spell the end of their Champions League campaign.
"It will be a difficult game in London where it will be all or nothing," Layun said.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
