3 October 2006, by Tom Kundert

Flying Braga beat Porto

Braga 2-1 Porto

Braga completed a memorable five days with a deserved 2-1 victory over champions Porto at their Municipal stadium last night.

After reaching the group stage of the UEFA Cup on Thursday, the northerners beat the reigning Portuguese champions thanks to goals from Marcel and Luis Filipe. In between Helder Postiga scored for Porto.

After just three minutes Porto missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring when Postiga slipped a perfect pass through to Lucho Gonzalez, but one on one against Paulo Santos the Argentine was thwarted by the goalkeeper.

Marcel for Braga and Postiga for Porto both chanced their arm from distance, shooting wide of goal, then Gonzalez and Anderson combined well but Santos was quick off his line to deny the Brazilian.

On 24 minutes the home supporters were celebrating as Wender picked out Marcel with an excellent cross-field pass, and the striker controlled the ball on his chest before firing past Helton into the net.

The goal injected confidence into Braga, who completely dominated for the next fifteen minutes. Marcel, Hugo Leal and Luis Filipe all came close to doubling the lead for the northerners but against the run of play Porto grabbed an equaliser shortly before the break.

Postiga strikes

Good work by Quaresma on the left culminated in a dangerous cross that Postiga met with a thumping header past Santos.

After a quiet start to the second half Carvalhal brought on Joao Pinto and Cesinha for Castanheira and Wender, and almost immediately Braga re-took the lead.

Luis Filipe was allowed to approach the Porto box unchallenged, and the full-back unleashed a strong shot that skidded past Helton before hitting the inside of the post and nestling inside the net.

Spurred on by the excellent Raul Meireles, Porto caused several moments of danger for Braga in the final fifteen minutes.

Headers from central defenders Pepe and Bruno Alves and striker Lisandro Lopez, all missed the target by a whisker, but Carlos Carvalhal’s team held on to move to within two points of the leaders.

Porto coach Jesualdo Ferreira, who transformed Braga in his three years at the club, was gracious in defeat saying: “Congratulation to Braga who deserved their win, although I think a draw would have been the more correct result. In the last quarter of an hour we exerted great pressure on Braga but it wasn’t to be.”

Braga:
Paulo Santos, Luis Filipe, Nem (Mauricio, 82), Paulo Jorge, Carlos Fernandes, Andres Madrid, Hugo Leal, Castanheira (Joao Pinto, 54), Wender (Cesinha, 54), Maciel, Marcel
Yellow Cards: Carlos Fernandes (10), Luis Filipe (13), Paulo Santos (73)

FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Ezequias (Alan, 76), Paulo Assuncao (Lisandro Lopez, 32), Raul Meireles, Lucho Gonzalez, Ricardo Quaresma (Vieirinha, 71), Anderson, Postiga
Yellow Cards: Lucho Gonzalez (15), Pepe (38), Lisandro Lopez (44), Quaresma (64), Bosingwa (85)

Goals:
[1-0] Marcel, 25
[1-1] Postiga, 42
[2-1] Luis Filipe, 56