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| Wednesday, 23 November 2011 21:41 |
Late goals fire Porto back into contentionShakhtar 0-2 FC Porto Two goals in the closing minutes by Hulk and Rat (own goal) gave FC Porto a crucial victory against Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine tonight. In a hard-fought encounter Hulk was the key man for the Dragons, scoring on 81 minutes after being put through by Joao Moutinho, and having a hand in the second goal on 90 minutes.
At the start of the match FC Porto looked in real danger of being knocked out of Europe altogether. Now, should Vitor Pereira's side overcome Zenit St. Petersburg at the Estadio do Dragao in a fortnight's time, they will make progress to the knockout phase of the Champions League. A draw or a defeat will see them defending their Europa League title in the New Year. Pereira, not for the first time this season, pulled a big surprise with his starting line-up, giving former Maritimo forward Djalma a rare start, dropping Kleber and pushing Hulk into the central striking role. Perhaps even more unexpected was the continuation of Maicon at right-back, after the big Brazilian's nightmare showing in the weekend defeat against Academica. Saved by the woodworkThe match started at a furious pace, with Hulk and Willian bringing saves out of each goalkeeper in the first ten minutes. Roared on by their supporters in the magnificent Donbass Arena, Shakhtar looked the more dangerous team in the first half and were unlucky not to take the lead on 19 minutes as Luiz Adriano escaped the attentions of Rolando and thudded his effort against the post. Kucher was next to threaten, with an acrobatic effort that did not miss by much.
Having weathered the storm, Porto came out looking more composed in the second half. However, with Djalma hard-working but lacking incisiveness, and James Rodriguez failing to influence proceedings, it was Hulk, as usual, who looked Porto's only likely route to goal. Porto were grateful to goalkeeper Helton on 73 minutes, with the Brazilian doing well to turn Fernandinho's deflected shot onto the post. Moutinho classWith a goalless draw looking ever more likely, Joao Moutinho picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch, and just like he had done for the Seleccao one week ago, produced a sublime throughball to set up a golden chance. Just like Ronaldo at the Estadio da Luz, Hulk needed no second invitation, beating Rybka with a right-foot shot to trigger exuberant celebrations by Pereira and company on the Porto bench.
The goal completely deflated the hosts, and simultaneously boosted Porto's confidence. More excellent play by Hulk worked space for Maicon to cross. Rat, under pressure from Varela, only succeeded in turning the ball into his own net. FC Porto: Helton, Maicon, Rolando, Otamendi, Alvaro Pereira, Moutinho, Fernando, Defour (Souza, 88), Djalma (Christian Rodriguez, 73), Hulk, James Rodriguez (Varela, 82) Goal: [0-1] Hulk, 79 [0-2] Rat (o.g.), 90 by Tom Kundert Follow PortuGOAL on Twitter and Facebook |
It wasn't so much about the spelling, it was more the attacking of people for something they hadn't said. Like I've mentioned before, I was happy, no, thrilled that Porto won. I desperately want Portugal to advance as many teams as possible.
But let's be realistic, Porto didn't play very well.
I'm hoping that they do turn it around for European play.
From the beggining this was never Benfica fan vs Porto fan. As far as I saw, both were rooting and happy about Porto's win.
I’ve already said my congrats on other forums and thought I had done it here but must have missed it.
For me I would be thrilled to see two Portuguese teams in the knockout stages again, it’s been long overdue, regardless of which team you support. At least Porto has locked in the EL spot and they now have a real shot at fighting for that knockout spot.
As for the match, Porto looked terrible in the first half and finally in the second half were able to get some good chances. This is the worst team in the group, so overall I still think VP is doing a terrible job with a team that was unstoppable last season. Honestly, little has changed on the team and they are a shadow of themselves. You can try to bash Benfica but fact his that we have made some great improvements this year while it's hard to explain what's happening at Porto.
Still, good luck in Europe, we’re currently ahead of the French on rankings and hopefully we can keep this up till the end of the season to help out whomever comes in 3rd place in the league for a better CL spot.
The posts I read here were of fans that were happy with Porto's victory. If you read all the posts completely you would have seen that.
Don't worry you're right, Benfica has plenty of classless fans. The problem that I've found is that there's plenty of classless fans on all the teams.
I said that they did what was needed. They beat the team that sits 4th in their group. Let me add that you must have not watched the game. Porto was fortunate at times, and did not look impressive at all.
As for Benfica I was thrilled that we went to Old Trafford and advanced in the Champions League. Were the goals sketchy. Yes. But we played well, on defense and offense. Good movement and passing to go along with good goal keeping. Massive team effort.
The draw actually allows us to win the group if we are able to win at home vs Otelul.
I've said all along that it would be difficult to beat the Eastern teams, especially at their home soil. But LHE, are you comparing Shakhtar at home to Man United at Old Trafford? Really? A Man United that wanted to put away advancement?
It's ok to go after me for rooting for Benfica, but I've been plenty critical of the Gloriouso. I could have been more critical and dissected the game a players further. But, frankly I was too ellated.
Let me add, not so elated that I don't think that there's still a lot of work left to do. Like Porto, I feel that Benfica needs to win their last group match. Granted, unlike the Tripeiros, we are sitting in a better situation.
Really? That's not what I saw. I saw a player bumbling with the ball at his feet and was fortunate that the defense allowed him so much time to get the shot off. Nice run, but the touch(s) lacked quality.
At least the other posters aren't drinking the kool aid yet. Pereira seems to be trying to finally instill himself into the squad. It just might be too late. Porto still looks all out of sorts to me. I understand that there's players that aren't playing to last seasons quality, but he needs to fix that. Either through motivation or tactics.
The great news is that they can get through with a win at home. I hope that Tripeiros haven't booked their passage through yet, because Zenit will not go down easy.
Let me add that Shakhtar spent millions in the transfer market this pass summer, and are bitterly disappointed.
In the group, APOEL deserves a ton of credit. They basically completely parked the bus yesterday, and held on. Danny had a wonderful shot just knicked away by the goalie.
News:
I read something yesterday that sums it all up for me.
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said that; "We are still going to try and win in Manchester. First of all, there are points for the five-year ranking at stake, and then there are €800,000 to the winner. We are not going to give anything away."
Granted they might play some of their youth, but they will be hungry to show well.
I know that people, myself included, have great club rivalries and despise other clubs (Sporting for me). But, when playing abroad we need to pull for all Portuguese squads. It not only brings us the recognition that is craved, but also the money, stature and power in the world of football. We may wish to have all Portuguese players playing in our clubs, but the fact remains that we need to win, period. We are a selling league, where the world's economy is changing drastically. It's going to get harder and harder to get (quality) players from Brazil, due to Europe's decline and Brazil's booming economies.
If you look at the current rankings, we are ahead of France, but they will pass us once 07/08 comes off the books. Granted Italy and France will remain within striking distance, but Ukraine (currently 8th) will have a huge jump up once 07/08 comes off.
Portugal really needs to maintain the three Champions League spots, which will allows us with recognition to bring in quality players, money and continued stature.
Yes, it's beyond fantastic that the Seleccao has qualified for the Euro's, but when we scream "Forca Portugal", at times it needs to mean for all Portuguese clubs
I didn't like seeing Hulk play through the middle, he normally likes to do things himself even on the wing, but even more so last night. He looked like the only attacking player that was trying to do anything at times. Djalma was poor in my opinion and James struggled to link up with Hulk at times.
The game was crying out for Kleber to be in the middle to finsh off Hulk's hard work. The Shakhtar defenders couldn't handle him when he was in wider positions but he needed someone to finish off his good play.
Despite all the probing down the wings, it was a ball through the middle which resulted in the first goal. That was great to see.
Helton's double save onto the post and then clear at 0-0 was epic. Fernando done a great job too.
Still a lot of work to do, but at least we responded well to the Academica fiasco and have a real shot at making the last 16.
Having said that a win, is a win and if they can beat St Petersburg, then they are through - and given Porto's home record against Russian sides they have a good chance.
Forca Dragoes!!!!!!!!!!