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| Wednesday, 21 October 2009 20:44 |
10-man Porto ease past APOELFC Porto 2-1 APOEL Portuguese champions Porto put themselves in prime position to qualify from Group D of the Champions League after coming from behind to beat Cypriots APOEL at a rain-soaked Dragao.
A brace from Hulk - his first goals in the competition - were enough for Jesuadlo Ferreira’s men to claim all three points after an Alvaro Pereira own goal had given the visitors a surprise lead. A late sending off for Mariano Gonzalez failed to cause Porto any problems, as they held on to their advantage to open up a five-point gap in the qualification places. APOEL, taking part in their first-ever campaign in Europe’s premier club competition, arrived in Portugal with a clear game plan to frustrate the hosts and play for a point, much like the one achieved away at Atletico Madrid in their last fixture. However, despite Porto having all of the game’s early attempts on goal, the Cypriots were sent into dreamland after twenty minutes when they went ahead. Former Benfica academy prospect Helio Pinto whipped in a cross from the left, leading to Alvaro Pereira bundling the ball into his own net under pressure from Constantinos Charalambides. At that point, APOEL led without having had an attempt on goal, but their advantage lasted just twelve minutes. Radamel Falcao intercepted the ball during some hesitant play in the APOEL defence, and played Hulk through for the Brazilian to calmly slot past Dionisios Chiotis for his first Champions League goal. Related: Porto v APOEL match reaction Porto upped the tempo after the break, and were ahead just minutes into the second period after Marios Elia inexplicably handled inside the area. Hulk took responsibility for the spot-kick, and duly sent Chiotis the wrong way to claim his second of the night and give Porto the lead. The visitors remained unadventurous, seemingly happy to wait for their chance to strike back, with Porto dominating the match for much of the following twenty minutes. However, just as the pattern of the game started to even out somewhat, the Dragons were reduced to ten men after Mariano was dismissed for a harmless-looking flick of the arm on Satsias. Nevertheless, Porto saw out the final stages with relative ease to claim their second successive victory in the competition. Now on six points from three matches and second in the group behind Chelsea, Ferreira’s men have opened up a five-point advantage over APOEL in second place ahead of their trip to Nicosia on match day 4. FC Porto: Helton; Fucile, Bruno Alves, Rolando, Álvaro Pereira; Fernando, Raul Meireles (Sapunaru, 90), Mariano, Rodriguez (Guarín, 68), Hulk, Falcao (Farías, 86). Yellow Cards: Helton (90) Red Cards: Mariano Gonzalez (74) APOEL: Chiotis; Elia, Grncarov, Broerse, Satsias (Papathanasiou, 77), Michail (Alexandrou, 59), Nuno Morais, Charalambides, Hélio Pinto, Kosowski (Breska, 37), Miroslavjevic. Yellow Cards: Satsias (23), Grncarov (37), Breska (57), Broerse (83) Goals: [0-1] Álvaro Pereira, 21' (own goal) [1-1] Hulk, 33' [2-1] Hulk, 48' (pen)
Comments (2)
Dreams
2
Friday, 23 October 2009 02:42
John /Canada
Keep dreaming....Porto will never be "O Glorioso" of Portugal. Benfica will forever be Portugal's team. And, FYI....Pinto DaCosta will not be alive forever and assisting you in STEALING titles through corrupt means.....You will NEVER catch Benfica in national titles or glory.....but you can DREAM.......hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
PORTO SEMPRE
1
Thursday, 22 October 2009 04:47
David/USA
Grande jogo, Porto wins again. We don't have individuals we have Dragons, a symbol that dominates large and small, rich and poor, winners and losers. Our will is unbreakable, we keep coming at you no matter who you are. Benfica may have the most Portuguese Ligas, but in time Porto will be Portugal's Pride. If we ever lose a game, you can't say Porto lost because they didn't give 100% and >.
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