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| Tuesday, 09 March 2010 21:43 |
Champions League: Porto humiliated by ArsenalArsenal 5-0 FC Porto (Arsenal win 6-2 on aggregate) FC Porto were dumped out of the Champions League at the Emirates Stadium this evening after a suffering a heavy defeat to Arsenal in the second leg of their last-16 knockout tie. The Portuguese champions arrived in London protecting a 2-1 lead, but were 2-0 down at the interval and, despite a bright opening following the break, suffered three further second-half goals to see their season suffer another critical blow. As expected, Porto boss Jesualdo Ferreira made several changes to the team that drew with Olhanense at the weekend, with Nuno Coelho deployed in front of the back four in the position vacated by the injured Fernando. Hulk was also restored to the starting line-up, while Silvestre Varela, Rolando, Jorge Fucile and Raul Meireles all returned. If the gameplan was to keep Arsenal at bay during the early stages, it could hardly have gone worse for Ferreira’s men. The Gunners started with a sharp and incisive passing game and looked dangerous every time they came forward, easily bypassing the Porto midfield and creating chances. It was no surprise to see the hosts ahead after just ten minutes, although there was a certain element of fortune about the goal. Andrei Arshavin should probably have been flagged offside before being put through by Samir Nasri, with the ensuing challenge on the Russian from Helton resulting in the ball breaking for Nikolas Bendtner, who tapped into an empty net. Nervy defencePorto looked nervy in defence, with the Dragons’ poor distribution from the back regularly inviting further pressure. One such moment led to the second goal on twenty-five minutes. Fucile’s poor clearance went straight to Arshavin, who darted past the Uruguayan, before beating Nuno Coelho and squaring the ball for Bendtner to get his second.Regularly undone by Arsenal’s tidy approach play, Porto looked to exploit any gaps with quick transitions, but rarely were Varela or Hulk able to make anything of their rare incursions forward. Instead, it was left to goalkeeper Helton to prevent the tie from escaping the Dragons before half time, with the Brazilian making some excellent stops to keep the scoreline at 2-0, while Arshavin blazed over the bar with the goal gaping. Ferreira made a significant change at half time, replacing Coelho with Cristian Rodriguez, and the switch seemed to work. Porto were much improved in during the first fifteen minutes following the re-start, with Rodriguez doing well to pick out Radamel Falcao, who fired straight at Almunia when well placed.
Rodriguez comes closePerhaps the vital moment of the game came shortly afterwards, when Rodriguez’s goal bound header from Micael’s corner was cleared off the line by Nasri. Just minutes later and the game’s crucial third goal was scored at the other end. Nasri got away from Meireles with ease, before skipping past Alvaro Pereira and smashing the ball past Helton for a fine individual goal.It was 4-0 two minutes later, as Porto were torn apart on the counter attack. Arshavin fed substitute Emanuel Eboue, who rounded Helton and converted to put the tie beyond the Portuguese and give the Gunners a three-goal aggregate lead. A beleaguered Porto side managed to avoid further damage until injury time, when Fucile bundled Bendtner over inside the box to concede a penalty. The Danish international took the spot-kick himself, beating Helton with a low drive to complete his hat-trick and compound a miserable fortnight for the Portuguese champions. Arsenal: Almunía; Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen e Clichy; Alex Song, Diaby e Nasri (Denilson, 72); Arshavin (Walcott, 76), Rosicky (Eboué, 56) e Bendtner.Yellow Cards:Vermaelen (37), Bendtner (43) FC Porto: Helton; Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves e Álvaro Pereira; Nuno André Coelho (Rodríguez, 46), Ruben Micael (Guarín, 75) e Raul Meireles; Varela (Mariano, 75), Hulk e Falcao.Yellow Cards: Falcao (23), Fucile (89) Goals: [1-0] Bendtner, 10'[2-0] Bendtner, 25' [3-0] Nasri, 64' [4-0] Eboue, 66' [5-0] Bendtner, 91' By Sean Gillen |
Invasion of the body snatchers. I mean that's the only logical explanation that I can come up with after such poor display (and I support Benfica)
I have to say I have been commenting lately on previous topics about Porto...I said if they play against Arsenal like they did when they played Sporting, Porto will get ripped apart and thats exactly what happend. Even without Fagregas, Gallas and Van persie...Arsenal are a top qaulity team because they play the best football in europe after Barcelona.
I think the team that will make Portugal proud this year is Benfica, I also wish Sporting well tomorrow again Atletico Madrid although it will be tough.
forca SLB!
However i will praise Arshavin for his always exciting style of play and Nasri for his brilliance at ripping 3 players, which i honestly should say was not defending at all.
Bendtner is one of the most fortunate players in football history in having a coach that believes in him so much.
Also stop doubting Hulk's ability, he is a fantastic player who did get smacked with a 4 months domestic suspension and by his selfish performance tonight it was obvious that he lacked match experience. If he was more experience enough he would've thought about playing for the team rather than himself as now he won't be able to play at all.
Overall Still a PORTISTA for life, hope we can turn this bad result into a good one for the rest of the season as we must get back a Champions league spot for next season.
tactics were all wrong. They gave way too much space in midfield to nasri and arshavin out wide. defenders just ball watching it was a complete joke.
Coach JF has a lot to answer for. He is clueless. He just doesn't know or want to change anything tactical. How can a coach honestly go to Arsenal with the same formation and say we're going to play for a win.
Is he mad..Thats exactly what Wenger wants to hear, this way he knows that Arsenal will have plenty time on the ball for
He should have frustrated arsenal for a good 45 min. Parked the team bus in front of goal. Then in the second half open up on to grab an away goal.
dont get me wrong I think the team has talent, but as is with a lot of portuguese teams its all mental.
as soon as arsenal scored the first goal it was all over.
Until that mentality gets corrected..Porto will be waiting a while before they beat Man Utd or Arsenal in england
There were some bright moments that got snuffed out by selfish or poor touches.
It was a very disappointing result for all of Portuguese football. Let's hope Benfica and Sporting do better on Thursday.
As for next season Porto's Champions League chance is very slim it would be a surprise if Braga drops points and Porto climbs to second but I don't believe Braga has the depth to compete in the Champions League. They only made it this far because they only had the Liga to play for.
Hopefully Benfica & Sporting can get off to a good start in Europa League.
Time for Jesualdo to hit the road
I hope they can get the second spot to qualify for CL next year. I don't think Braga is up to being a CL team -- sorry Braga fans. I'm looking at the big picture and trying to be objective.
FC Porto will come back as their players get more experience and hopefully sell Hulk. I know has been suspended but he is only good to make a few good runs but is selfish with the ball. Sell him before he loses value and loses him temper again. I don't think Hulk will make it big. Let's check in 5 years.
i'm convinced that's where all the problems start from. varela/micael didn't have great games but its hard to get in the groove of the action when the other team has the ball so much. fucile was pretty bad also, i've been wanting to see him shipped off for 2 years now.
Arsenal are a great team and great teams exploit your weak links. i'll be rooting for Lyon to win the cup now, they got our boys cissokho and lopez who are missing pretty badly right now.
I hope Benfica and Sporting do well in Europa. Maybe next year in Europa will do well for Porto for them to grow their squad, its done wonders for Benfica and I feel confident they will do well next year in the CL with this squad.
As it stands, I think that it won't happen this season, and Porto will be out of the Champions League next season.
As a benfica fan, I will be thrilled if we win the league and get the automatic bid. But, I would also like to see the 2nd place team go out and get the necessary players to do well in the Champions League. I know that Porto would, I'm not sure Braga will. We need more than one squad to get out of the Group stages, and at least on to make it to the quarters. if not semis.
Ruben Micael's lack of experience really showed as his passing was terrible. Fucile was completely raped by arshavin throughout the game. Nasri's goal was amazing, but where was the defense. In my opinion the only porto players that played well were Raul Meireles and Helton.