30 October 2007, by Tom Kundert

FC Porto continue imperious march

FC Porto 3-0 Leixoes

Reigning champions FC Porto further strengthened their hold on top spot with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Leixoes at the Estadio do Dragao last night. Two quickfire goals inside the first seven minutes from Lisandro Lopez and Tarik effectively ended the match as a contest.

Lopez scored his second in the 78th minute to complete an eighth straight win in eight Liga games for the Dragons. The Argentine has been lethal in front of goal this season, averaging a goal a match to shoot to the top of the goalscoring charts.

Barnstorming start

Unsurprisingly, the home team started full of confidence after their sensational start to the defence of their title and had already threatened three times before Lisandro Lopez opened the scoring on five minutes. The Argentine charged down an attempted clearance before blasting past Beto.

Two minutes later and the lead was doubled as Lucho Gonzalez slipped a perfect pass to Tarik Sektioui, who dribbled his way past two defenders before firing into the roof of the net.

Porto then suffered a setback as Bosingwa was forced off with a muscle strain, replaced by Slovak left-back Marek Cech. The substation did nothing to halt Porto’s forward momentum however, with Raul Meireles, Quaresma and Bruno Alves all going close to adding further goals before the break.

Leixoes’ only effort of note in the opening forty-five minutes was dangerous header from Roberto that flashed just wide of the post.

In the second half the pace of the match dropped substantially as Porto opted to conserve energy for the upcoming home matches against Belenenses and Marseille.

Stepanov impresses

Even so, Leixoes were unable to penetrate the home defence, where big Serbian defender Stepanov again showed why Porto have not missed Pepe with an assured display.

Quaresma, still struggling to find his best form, tried his luck from distance on couple of occasions, but his efforts failed to trouble Beto.

The winger got his bearings right in the 78th minute, however, as he delivered a pinpoint cross onto the head of Lopez, whose header Beto got a hand to but could not keep out.

A deserved victory for FC Porto, who did not have to get out of second gear. Jesualdo Ferreira’s team has the best attack (15 goals scored) and the best defence (1 goal conceded) and already look huge favourites to collect a third straight Portuguese title.

FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa (Marek Cech, 13), Stepanov, Bruno Alves, Fucile, Lucho Gonzalez (Mariano Gonzalez, 70), Bolatti, Raul Meireles; Tarik Sektioui (Helder Postiga, 59), Lisandro Lopez, Ricardo Quaresma
Yellow Cards: Fucile

Leixoes:
Beto, Marco Cadete (Tales, 72), Nuno Silva, Elvis, Ezequuias, Paulo Machado, Bruno China, Pedro Cervantes, Vieirinha (Livramento, 80), Roberto, Jorge Gonçalves (Filipe Oliveira, 46)
Yellow Cards: Ezequias

Goals:
[1-0] Lisandro Lopez, 5
[2-0] Sektioui, 7
[3-0] Lisandro Lopez, 78