3 November 2007, by Tom Kundert

Porto’s winning run brought to a halt

FC Porto 1-1 Belenenses

Belenenses became the first team to prevent FC Porto from taking maximum points in the Bwin Liga this campaign, almost three months into the season.

Ze Pedro’s exquisite finish in the 50th minute equalised Helder Postiga’s first-half goal to earn the Lisbon club a deserved 1-1 draw at the Estadio do Dragao.

After a bright opening Porto suffered a setback on 10 minutes when captain Lucho Gonzalez was forced off injured. The loss of the Argentine, who has been on top form this season, clearly affected the hosts.

Even so, Porto took the lead on 20 minutes from practically their only chance of the first half. Paulo Assuncao intercepted the ball in midfield and played in Postiga, whose cross-shot found its way under the body of Costinha.

Roncatto shines

The goal was rough justice on Belenenses, who had matched the Portuguese champions up until that point and continued to do so. Skilful Brazilian, Roncatto, was proving especially troublesome for the Porto rearguard, and only a fine save from Helton prevented the striker from equalising before the break.

Five minutes into the second period Belenenses levelled the match with a well-worked goal. Roncatto again showed a deft touch and great awareness to progress towards the Porto box and slip a clever ball to Ze Pedro, who dribbled past Cech and dinked a delightful finish over the sprawling Helton.

The goal signalled a change in the flow of the match, as FC Porto finally began to stamp their authority on proceedings.

As the pressure built Lisandro Lopez had the ball in the net, but the strike was ruled out for offside, while Adriano forced an instinctive save out of Costinha.

Even under the cosh, Belenenses continued to play a neat passing game whenever they had the ball, and constantly kept the Porto defence on their toes with some dangerous breakaways, fully meriting their hard-earned point as the final whistle was blown.

Despite dropping two points, Porto maintain a healthy lead as they turn their attention back to Champions League action on Tuesday against Marseille. Meanwhile, on the evidence of this showing, Belenenses look likely to be challenging for a place in Europe for a second successive season.

FC Porto:
Helton, Fucile, Stepanov, Bruno Alves, Cech, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles, Lucho (Leandro Lima, 10 (Tarik, 60)), Quaresma, Lisandro, Postiga (Adriano, 71)
Yellow Cards: Tarik (62), Quaresma (89)

Belenenses:
Costinha, Candido Costa, Rolando, Hugo Alcantara, Rodrigo Alvim, Gabriel Gomez, Ruben Amorim, Silas (Evandro Paulista, 47), Ze Pedro, Weldon (Joao Paulo, 89), Roncatto (Rafael Bastos, 77)
Yellow Cards: Rolando (26), Gomez (44), Silas (46), Rodrigo Alvim (57), Weldon (85), Costinha (92)

Goals:
[1-0] Postiga, 20
[1-1] Ze Pedro, 50