18 October 2006, by Marco Pereira

FC Porto 4-1 Hamburg - match reaction

FC Porto coach, Jesualdo Ferreira:

“It was an important victory, a huge victory, and well-deserved. I feel that the only thing that left me irritated was that we suffered a goal. Overall, the first half was difficult because of the rain and that made the pitch really wet, but at this point the players were very intelligent. They were firm in midfield and explored the flanks.”

“We should have had a penalty sooner because Quaresma was fouled in the box. Later, the first goal appeared, then the penalty and the result at the break was justified. In the second half, we intensified our attack and managed to score more goals. We will fight to accomplish what we want, which is to qualify for the next phase.”

“The group will be decided in the fifth or last game, but what interests us is the next game and getting a win at Hamburg. There’s no point wasting too much time and energy with calculations that are not necessary. Arsenal lost to CSKA and are now in a position where they must win their next game. It’s wide open.”

Raul Meireles, FC Porto midfielder:

“Everything is still wide open because we still have to play each team again. All the games are fundamental and we want to go into all of them the way we did in this game, with the spirit of conquest. We are always motivated, but after you win by four goals the sensation is always special.”

Thomas Doll, Hamburg coach:

“We are very disappointed that our game ended like this. We treated it like a final. After it was 1-0, we had to risk more, but the penalty made everything more complicated.”

“There are no excuses for what went wrong for us, but one of our goals was disallowed incorrectly and for 3-0 their goal was clearly offside. At that point Porto dominated the game and we did not mange to react. We were not strong, which you have to be in a competition like the Champions League.”

FC Porto 4-1 Hamburg - Match Report