Quaresma special fires FC Porto to crucial win

Benfica 0-1 FC Porto

It was business as usual for the Big Blue & White Machine known as FC Porto as the Portuguese champions collected a huge win 1-0 at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz. A first-half Quaresma goal was enough for the Dragons to widen their lead to a comfortable seven points at the summit of the Portuguese league table.

As for Benfica, they were not the same team who put in the awesome display this past Wednesday against Milan in the Champions League. The Eagles mounted pressure early and enjoyed the majority of goalscoring chances, but conceded when they gave Porto a slither of an opportunity, and paid for it.

The atmosphere could not have been more electric as over 60,000 fans filled the Estadio da Luz to accompany the Portuguese football classic. Benfica had their opponents scurrying to defend in the first minute as Nuno Gomes released a left-footed strike, but a perfect sliding tackle by Pedro Emanuel kept the ball out.

The encounter then went into a lull devoid of any real danger from either team. Perhaps the midweek Champions League exertions had taken the pep out of their step. Sektioui tried to change all that in the 33rd minute as the Moroccan released a shot that missed the Benfica net by the smallest of margins.

Lopez goes close

Just before the break, in the 41st minute, FC Porto almost scored through a Lisandro Lopez header, but the Argentine’s effort was well saved by Quim. But the close call would prove to be a teaser as the man known as “Harry Potter” in Portuguese football showed some magic to break the deadlock.

After receiving a pass from Lucho Gonzalez, Quaresma ran into the Benfica area with the ball, shrugged off the attentions of David Luiz, and blasted the ball past Quim to give his side the lead.

Benfica attempted to find the leveller straight after the break as Nuno Gomes tried to take advantage of a poor defensive clearance by Bruno Alves, but the striker was not able to beat Helton with his effort. Then the Benfica forward went close with a header that just missed the target minutes later.

Adu impact

Gomes came close with another header in the 70th minute, before Freddy Adu was introduced by Camacho in the 78th minute and almost made an immediate impact. The American forced Helton into a fine diving save with an excellent snap-shot from outside the area. With ten minutes left Petit tried his luck from distance and his effort flew just over the bar.

Without playing an extraordinary match, when push came to shove, Porto came out of it with flying colours and, once again, continued their hex over Benfica. As for the Eagles, Benfica cannot be faulted for lack of effort, but as Rui Costa said after the match, “we have to learn to play more with our heads instead of just with our heart.”

Benfica:
Quim, Luis Filipe, Luisao, David Luiz, Leo, Katsouranis (Cardozo, 65), Petit, Maxi Pereira (Di Maria, 70), Rui Costa, Cristian Rodriguez, Nuno Gomes (Adu, 78)
Yellow Cards: Katsouranis (63), Di Maria (76), Luis Filipe (90)

FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pedro Emanuel, Bruno Alves, Jorge Fucile, Lucho Gonzalez, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles (Bolatti, 81), Sektioui (Postiga, 61), Lisandro, Quaresma (Mariano Gonzalez, 69)
Yellow Cards: Jorge Fucile (44), Sektioui (53), Helton (87)

Goals:
[0-1] Quaresma, 42