22 February 2007, by Tom Kundert

All square after intense encounter

Porto 1-1 Chelsea

The champions of Portugal and England played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Estadio do Dragao last night to give Chelsea a slight advantage going into the return leg in London in a fortnight.

Raul Meireles gave Porto an early lead only for Shevchenko to equalise almost immediately before Quaresma crashed a spectacular long-range shot against the bar in a pulsating first half. Chances were few and far between in the second period, with Chelsea almost snatching a winner when Drogba hit the post.

Helder Postiga: “It’s a result that leaves everything wide open”

Jose Mourinho saw his Premiership team have an uncomfortable start to the match in front of 50,000 exuberant fans in Porto. John Terry injured his ankle in the 9th minute, and as he was receiving treatment Porto took the lead with their first chance.

Postiga skill

Postiga caused panic inside the Chelsea box with a twisting and turning run. His cross was cleared to the edge of the box where Raul Meireles hit a first-time volley past Cech with the aid of a deflection to send the crowd into raptures.

To make matters worse for Chelsea, their talismanic captain failed to recover and had to be substituted, but his replacement, Robben, made an immediate impact. Picking up a loose clearance the Dutch winger slipped a perfect ball to Shevchenko and the Ukrainian hit a clinical shot across Helton into the corner of the net.

Four minutes later Lopez almost put Porto back into the lead but Cech produced an excellent reaction save when one-on-one against the striker. Drogba then showed his prowess in the air as he easily beat two Porto defenders but powered his header over the bar.

In a surprisingly open match play was switching from end to end at a fast pace. Porto’s star man Quaresma was beginning to imprint his inimitable mark on the match, and only a series of interceptions from the magnificent Essien kept the Dragons at bay.

Sensational Quaresma

In the 34th minute Quaresma was whisker away from scoring a spectacular goal, when he nonchalantly chipped a 25-metre effort with the outside of his right foot high over Cech who could only watch as the ball crashed back into play off the crossbar.

The interval arrived with all to play for as the teams were locked at 1-1 but the second half was something of a let-down. Chelsea were content to play on the counter-attack, while Porto failed to carve out clear-cut chances.

Ivory Coast striker Drogba came closest to finding the net in the 78th minute when a good move set him up for a shot from a tight angle that beat Helton but hit the outside of the post. In stoppage time Lopez latched onto a throughball but was forced wide by Cech and could not steer his effort on target.

Although Chelsea will start the second leg at Stamford Bridge on 6 March as big favourites, Porto proved that they have the firepower to hurt the London outfit and will feel this tie is far from over.

PortuGOAL man of the match
Paulo Assuncao – The defensive midfielder worked tirelessly against Chelsea’s quartet of multi-million pound midfielders, and did not come out second best.

FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile (Bruno Moraes, 65), Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles (Marek Cech, 56), Lucho Gonzalez, Lisandro Lopez, Helder Postiga (Adriano, 77), Ricardo Quaresma
Yellow Cards: Pepe (90)

Chelsea:
Cech, Diarra, John Terry (Robben, 13, Obi Mikel, 46) Ricardo Carvalho, Wayne Bridge, Makelele, Essien, Frank Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Shevchenko (Kalou, 87)
Yellow Cards: Makelele (36), Essien (42), Cech (70), Ballack (82)

Goals:
[1-0] Raul Meireles, 12
[1-1] Shevchenko, 16