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| Wednesday, 30 September 2009 21:02 |
Porto do it to Atletico againFC Porto 2-0 Atletico Madrid It just seems that they have their number as FC Porto registered their first win of the 2009/10 Champions League when they dispatched of Atletico Madrid 2-0 at the Estadio do Dragao.Goals in the final fifteen minutes from Falcao and Rolando were enough to pour more misery on their Spanish neighbours and collect their first three points of the competition, as Porto reaped the benefits of a strong second-half showing. As was the case in the weekend victory over Sporting, the home side made a strong start at the Dragao, with Hulk again involved in much of Porto’s best attacking moves. However, after Mariano curled an effort over the bar and Bruno Alves failed to meet a cross at the back post, the Spaniards started to play their way into the contest. A slack piece of play from Tomas Costa in midfield allowed Sergio Aguero to get off a powerful shot which was beaten away by Helton, while Diego Forlan also tested the Brazilian from distance and Juanito went close with a headed chance. There were chances for both sides during the opening stages of the second half. Hulk, who had been wasteful with some of his long-range effort in the first period, produced a better effort after cutting in from the right, while at the other end Tomas Ujfalusi forced Helton into a save at his near post and Juanito headed over from a corner. Guarin impactJesualdo Ferreira attempted to introduce some more drive into his team’s midfield twenty minutes into the second period by bringing on Freddy Guarin in place of Costa, and the Colombian’s arrival seemed to energise Porto. Almost immediately, the substitute drove a shot at the Atletico goal, and from that moment on the home team looked the stronger side.Atletico had been forced into fielding rookie goalkeeper David De Gea, after Roberto had been forced off with a thigh strain in the first half, but the youngster did well to stand up to the greater waves of Porto pressure. Guarin skipped past former Dragons midfielder Paulo Assuncao and fed the increasingly influential Hulk, who played in Fernando Belluschi for the Argentine to draw a save from De Gea. The momentum from the home side had been building, and the deadlock was finally broken with fifteen minutes left to play. Raul Meireles sprayed a superb cross field pass to find Hulk inside the area and the Brazilian beat Perea before forcing a save from De Gea, from which he fed the rebound to Falcao and the striker converted with a deft flick using the inside of his right boot. Hulk was causing the right side of Atletico’s defensive countless problems, and Falcao should have doubled his tally shortly afterwards after more great play from the Brazilian. This time Hulk produced a perfectly-placed cross to the back post, where Falcao met the ball with his head but failed to get a good enough connection to beat De Gea. From the resulting corner, the points were made safe with nine minutes left to play. Bruno Alves connected with the inswinging delivery but his header crashed off the post, only for Rolando to poke the ball home from close-range to put the Portuguese champions well in contention for a top two place in the group. Porto: Helton; Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Álvaro Pereira; Belluschi, Tomás Costa (Guarín, 66), Raul Meireles; Mariano (Valeri, 90), Falcao (Farias, 87), Hulk. Atl.Madrid: Roberto (De Gea, 25); Ulfalusi, Pablo, Juanito, Perea; Paulo Assunção; Cléber Santana, Jurado (Reyes, 79), Simão (Maxi Rodriguez, 70); Aguero, Forlán Yellow Cards: Assuncao (36), Perea (47) Goals: [1-0] Falcao, 75' [2-0] Rolando, 81' Add your comment |
