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7 November 2006, by Marco Pereira

In-form trio fire Porto to easy win

Setubal 0-3 Porto

FC Porto cruised to a 3-0 win against Setubal at the Bonfim last night, thanks to goals from in-form forwards, Lisandro Lopez, Helder Postiga and Ricardo Quaresma.

The Dragons capped an excellent week as they reinforced their Champions League position by beating Hamburg in midweek, before maintaining their grip on top spot in the Bwin Liga.

Marking his Liga return to the line-up was former outcast, Bosingwa, and rarely utilized midfielder, Jorginho. Alan also got some playing time in the second half.

Helder Postiga continued his hot scoring streak as he added to his tally to join a group of four players as the Liga’s top marksmen by notching his fifth goal of the season.

Lightning start

The goals came thick and fast as Porto got on the scoreboard as early as the 4th minute of the game when Lisandro Lopez took advantage of poor goalkeeping by Nelson as he flapped at a Quaresma cross, allowing the Argentinean to head the ball into the net.

Two minutes later Helder Postiga scored Porto’s second as he hit a rising shot that Nelson could not stop. After being discarded by Porto for over a season when Co Adriaanse was in charge, the Portuguese striker was welcomed back into the fold by Jesualdo Ferreira and is enjoying a highly productive start to the current campaign.

Setubal had very little in the way of response, but attempted to get back into the game when Amuneke had a shot on goal in the 24th minute to make sure Helton was not sleeping on the job and a headed opportunity ten minutes later that fell just wide.

Porto’s Bruno Alves then sent a header over the crossbar, before Lucho had a glorious opportunity to increase the lead to three goals just before the break, but his chipped attempt did not have enough behind it and landed in the arms of the Setubal keeper.

After the restart Setubal still had little to offer while Porto were always looking to add to their lead. Postiga came close when his header went over Setubal’s crossbar, while at the other end Setubal managed one good goalscoring opportunity when Varela had an effort on goal that just flew wide of Helton’s net.

Disallowed goal

Setubal thought they were back in the game in the 67th minute when Mbamba challenged Helton at a Janicio corner and knocked the ball into the net, but the goal was ruled out by the referee for a foul on the Porto keeper.

Porto marched back up field five minutes later and Lucho Gonzalez tried to repeat his Champions League wonder goal with a powerful volley from distance but the ball just cleared Nelson’s crossbar.

In the 76th minute Porto got their third goal of the game when Quaresma hit a spectacular free kick that rocketed into the net with supreme accuracy. Just before the game ended, Pepe almost added insult to injury when his header missed the net by inches.

Porto will now go into the international break feeling comfortable in the knowledge that they will be in top spot when the Liga resumes in two weeks.

Toni, Vitoria Setubal coach:

“Porto started the game very strongly. We showed lack of attention and had no reaction after the first two goals. I’m not completely disappointed because we played well in spurts. FC Porto are a strong team.”

Jesualdo Ferreira, FC Porto coach:

“Porto started well and have started every game this way. It is a characteristic that we would like to maintain. This made the game lively and made it more exciting, but we squandered several goals.”

“I do not recall an opportunity on goal by Setubal in the first half. But Setubal have a collection of good players with a lot of talent and are technically very strong. Still, they could not resist FC Porto’s pressure.”

Setubal:
Nelson, Janicio, Verissimo, Auri, Bruno Ribeiro, Julien (Russiano, 75), Binho, Mario Carlos (Cesar La Paglia, 31), Varela, Amuneke, Lourenco (Mbamba, 46)
Yellow Cards: Janicio (25), Bruno Ribeiro (27), Amuneke (52)

FC Porto:
Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Jorge Fucile (Marek Cech, 80), Lucho Gonzalez, Paulo Assuncao, Lisandro Lopez (Alan, 65), Jorginho, Ricado Quaresma, Helder Postiga (Bruno Moraes, 75)
Yellow Cards: Jorge Fucile (60), Paulo Assuncao (82)

Goals:
[0-1] Lisadro Lopez, 4
[0-2] Helder Postiga, 6
[0-3] Ricardo Quaresma, 76