Conclusive. It was four wins out of four matches for German teams Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen against FC Porto and Sporting respectively.
The damage had been done in the first legs, with the Dragons losing 2-0 in Germany and Sporting falling to a home defeat, and there were no heroic comebacks in the second legs.
Braga are Portugal’s only remaining representative in the Europa League. PortuGOAL rounds up the action from last night.
Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 Sporting (agg. 4-1)
To emulate his journey to the BayArena in 2013, then as a Benfica manager winning 1-0, was the grand task for Jorge Jesus and Sporting, who are yet to beat German opposition away from home.
Not that the visitors appear to care much about their so-called record this season, as once again they opted to make wholesale changes in order to rest key players ahead of their league fixture with Vitória de Guimarães next Monday.
Bayer Leverkusen welcomed back their season’s talisman Javier Hernandez for the second leg, as the German-born Turkey international Ömer Toprak missed the game through injury.
Bellarabi at it again
Lining up alongside Teo Gutierrez as a support striker, the game’s first chance fell to Carlos Mané inside the opening three minutes, but the Sporting academy graduate failed to hit the target with his attempt.
Keen to gain a firm grip of the encounter and put their initial scare behind them, Leverkusen’s phases of possession led to Karim Bellarabi’s goal in the 29th minute, as the German winger smashed his shot low and hard across goal and in off Rui Patrício’s leg.
Sporting’s response created good sights at goal for both Gutierrez and Mané on separate occassions, only for the duo to both disappoint their teammates by failing to pull the trigger at Bernd Leno’s goal.
Leverkusen overpower the Lions
The travelling fans were the ones celebrating in the 38th minute when João Mário popped up to tap in a shot at the back post, with Sporting needing just one more to take control of the tie.
It wasn’t to be for Jesus’ men, however, as Bellarabi unleashed a strike from range similar to the one that stunned the Estádio José Alvalade in the first leg when it hit the post, only this time the former Eintracht Braunschweig man saw his effort swerve away from Patrício and into the back of the net to give the hosts a comfortable 3-1 lead on aggregate.
Jesus called on Islam Slimani to salvage a result at least, but it’d be ‘Die Werkself’ who’d hold the pleasure of scoring once more, with Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s frontal half-volley in the 87th minute concluding Sporting’s fate in the Europa League.
FC Porto 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (agg. 0-3)
After the forced tactical shake-up made by José Peseiro in the first leg, Thomas Tuchel joined FC Porto in adjusting his heart of defence with the introduction of defensive midfielder Sven Bender in place of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, whereas İlkay Gündoğan recovered in time to replace Nuri Şahin in the starting line-up.
Peseiro stuck by the idea of Miguel Layún as a centre back once more, meanwhile Danilo Pereira and Uruguayan full back Maxi Pereira returned to the first team after suspensions. Héctor Herrera, André André and Yacine Brahimi also made way for Moussa Marega, Evandro and Silvestre Varela as a wide man.
Dortmund land killer blow
After a cagey start to the game, the in-form Henrikh Mkhitaryan found a way to terrorise Porto’s defence once again when cutting inside to assist Marco Reus with a looped cross. The former Borussia Mönchengladbach failed to stick his volley past Iker Casillas, however, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on hand, albeit from an undetected offside position, to force the ball in off the Spaniard’s back for the own goal in the 23rd minute.
Porto required three goals to turn the tie in their favour and they were almost on the right track when both Evandro and Varela missed a chance each to make it 1-1 before half time. Vincent Aboubakar then appeared in the 55th minute to backheel Marega’s cross at goal with little success, as Varela appeared unattended at the back post screaming for the Cameroonian’s dummy.
Germans coast through
The celebrations grew in the away section as we approached full time, but Brahimi still came inches away from providing Porto with a consolation goal when his shot rattled the bar in the 86th minute.
Mkhitaryan was next in line to hit the goal’s framework when his left footed drive cannoned off the post in the 90th minute, with the referee Mark Clattenburg blowing the full time whistle shortly after to end Porto’s premature Europa League campaign.
By Patrick Ribeiro
