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| Sunday, 19 February 2012 20:50 |
Porto pressure Benfica with win at VitoriaVitoria Setubal 1-3 FC Porto Rebounding from their Europa League loss against Manchester City, Porto earned a 3-1 victory against Vitoria Setubal on Sunday evening at the Estadio Bonfim. Marc Janko opened scoring in the third minute with a well-placed header and Fernando doubled his side’s advantage on the counter-attack. After Meyong expertly curled his free kick into Helton’s net in the second half, Silvestre Varela’s goal confirmed his side’s victory. The Northern side were without Alvaro Pereira who was serving a suspension for accumulating yellow cards, and Danilo was injured in Thursday’s loss to Manchester City. As a result, Alex Sandro and Cristian Sapunaru were given the start, while Nicolas Otamendi also made his way back into the starting eleven. The away side opened scoring early when Joao Moutinho drove in a cross from the right which found a completely unmarked Janko who violently headed past a frozen Ricardo. With the Austrian in the middle and Hulk on the right, Vitor Pereira’s men are clearly a different side, carrying a much more constant threat to their opponents. Ricardo turns back the clockMoutinho looked to add a goal to his assist when in one fluid motion, he latched onto the ball and sent a venomous volley towards goal. Ricardo responded with a fabulous diving save.
Meyong nearly equalised for the hosts as Porto’s dominance looked to be slipping, but Hulk once again made the difference. On a quick counterattack, the Brazilian picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch and isolated a surging Fernando in the box. The central midfielder slipped the ball past Ricardo for a rare goal, only his second in a Porto jersey. In the second half, Porto continued to assert their dominance on the match, but it was Setubal’s Bruno Amaro who threatened a goal with a long-range effort which flew just over Helton’s goal. Key trio restedPorto lost much of their potency when Pereira took off Lucho Gonzalez, Hulk and Moutinho in anticipation of Thursday’s Europa League showdown against Manchester City.
The visitors were clearly fielding a weakened side, and Setubal took advantage. After Otamendi was booked for a rough foul on the edge of the box, Meyong expertly curled the resulting free kick past Helton to give his side hope of coming away with a point. This hope was quickly extinguished, however, as minutes later, Porto scored to confirm their victory. After Alex Sandro expertly picked out Cristian Rodriguez on the left, the Uruguay international passed back to Varela who struck his effort past Ricardo to make sure of victory. The win moves Porto to within two points of first-place Benfica while Setubal remain in last place. FC Porto: Helton, Sapunaru, Rolando, Otamendi, Alex Sandro, Lucho Gonzalez (Defour, 59), Fernando, Joao Moutinho (James Rodriguez, 68), Hulk (Christian Rodriguez, 68), Janko, Varela Goals: [0-1] Marc Janko, 3 [0-2] Fernando, 26 [1-2] Meyong, 75 [1-3] Varela, 79 by Victor Ferreira |
For all Benfica fans, it's important not to get too ahead of ourselves and over-confident, and just take one match at a time. We have been the best in the league so far, but there's still 3 months left to play...and we have to remain focused and definitely improve our defending. Clean sheets almost guarantee three points (given our scoring prowess this season), and we simply have to start getting a pattern of keeping clean sheets. We are the favourites, but have to keep up this high level in order to win the league. The classico is going to be huger than ever this season!!!!
If the points gap after the classico is still 5 pts or more then I think it is all over.
Porto really needs some help from Guimaraes tonight to make things interesting, because this is one of the few games where SLB might drop some points.
A couple of things;
Should Porto look that much worse verse Setubal after Hulk, Moutinho and Lucho come off?
If rest was necessary, shouldn't have Defour started and have Lucho and Moutinho split the game?
Just wondering.