Sam Finley relished the chance to test himself against elite opposition in Porto, but the Bristol Rovers midfielder's focus has quickly turned to the future with the new League One season looming.
Rovers finished their pre-season training camp in Portugal with a secretly-arranged behind-closed-doors friendly against the reigning Primeira Liga champions, losing 3-0 before jetting back home to complete their preparation for the upcoming campaign.
He believes Rovers learned plenty from their experience Sérgio Conceição's team, and the week away has done the squad the world of good.
"It was a fantastic experience," he said. "They had a very good side. It’s just the sharpness they’ve got and that’s the difference for the Champions League level.
"You just notice the sharpness of the players, even if they take a bad touch because the pitch wasn’t great to be fair where the game was. It was bobbly, but even if they did take a bad touch they’re always there to get the ball.
"It’s very rare that they give the ball away or get the chance to nick it off them, but it was a good game to play in."
The week away in the sun of the Algarve actually got off to a bad start for Finley, who went down ill within 24 hours of landing.
He explained: "I had a bit of tonsillitis the day we landed in Portugal. I had a lump in the back of my throat and missed the first three days of training. I trained Thursday and Friday and then we had the game on the Saturday. I came on after 15 minutes and played longer than expected."
Overall, though, Finley believes Rovers got plenty out of their week in Villamoura.
"It was perfect," he explained "It was just what we needed and fair play to the owner for letting us go out there and paying for everything, and the gaffer – or whoever sorted the Porto game – that’s some feat.
"The camaraderie… we had a few tough days in there and we had to dig deep and we came through it on the other side."
Finley believes that gruelling week overseas may have contributed to the sub-par performance that led to a 3-1 defeat at Twerton Park on Tuesday evening. Bigger tests are to come in the shape of Championship sides Swansea City and Stoke City on Saturday and Tuesday respectively and the 29-year-old is looking forward to getting stuck in.
"I felt alright on Saturday (against Porto), but it was not the same (against Bath)," he said. "I felt a bit leggy, I think all the lads did. The lads looked tired and felt tired, but we’re disappointed because we shouldn’t be getting beat in these games.
"I think the only thing we can take from that game is getting 90 minutes and no injuries.
"Pre-season’s a grind, that’s all it is. I’ve done many of them now. You look forward to when the games come because the first two weeks are always running and running hard.
"When the games start coming, it’s Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday gearing up for the games. That’s where you get your match sharpness. You can’t replicate that in training, no matter how hard you try.
"We’ve got some very good games against some Championship opposition and that will be a very good test for us leading into the season and I’m looking forward to it."
The Gas will be without club captain Paul Coutts for the opening three games of the season as he completes a four-match suspension picked up after the penultimate game last season. In his stead, Finley will be the man wearing the armband for the Gas.
He said: "Paul’s the club captain, a great club captain and a great player and I think we missed him massively (at Bath) and he will be a big miss for the first three games of the season.
"I captained the last game of last season when we went up and it’s an honour to captain the club."
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