Porto stun heavy favourites Bayern
17 April 2015 1:27 AM GMT
Goal-scorer Ricardo Quaresma hailed Porto’s shock 3-1 quarterfinal, first-leg, win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday as a night to remember to leave them on the verge of the semifinal.
Porto carry a weighty advantage to Munich for Tuesday’s return leg while Bayern have only a glimmer of hope and must score at least twice. The hosts exploited early mistakes by Bayern’s Xabi Alonso and Dante to get a dream start with right winger Quaresma converting a penalty, then scoring Porto’s second goal in the opening ten minutes.
Bayern pulled one back through Thiago Alcantara with 28 minutes gone. But Porto captain Jackson Martinez, a surprise inclusion after six weeks out with a hamstring injury, added a third on 65 minutes for his 27th goal of the season.
Martinez proved his fitness by pressing Bayern’s Alonso into an early mistake which led to Quaresma’s penalty after just three minutes, then sprinted around Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for Porto’s third.
“It’s a great win, but we know it doesn’t decide who will go through and we still have one more match to play, which will be much harder. These were a couple of difficult weeks for me, as I did not knew if I would be able to play, but I trained hard and everything went great,” Martinez said.
Porto coach Julen Lopetegui got one over his former Barcelona teammate, Bayern’s coach Pep Guardiola, but insists nothing is decided.
“Jackson indicated he was ok and we decided to take the risk. It will be a very difficult match, we are still halfway through this round, against one of the greatest teams in Bayern’s history, but we were great and this team has lots of ambition,” said the 48-year-old, who will be without suspended wing-backs Danilo and midfielder Alex Sandro in Munich.
Porto carry a weighty advantage to Munich for Tuesday’s return leg while Bayern have only a glimmer of hope and must score at least twice. The hosts exploited early mistakes by Bayern’s Xabi Alonso and Dante to get a dream start with right winger Quaresma converting a penalty, then scoring Porto’s second goal in the opening ten minutes.
Bayern pulled one back through Thiago Alcantara with 28 minutes gone. But Porto captain Jackson Martinez, a surprise inclusion after six weeks out with a hamstring injury, added a third on 65 minutes for his 27th goal of the season.
Martinez proved his fitness by pressing Bayern’s Alonso into an early mistake which led to Quaresma’s penalty after just three minutes, then sprinted around Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for Porto’s third.
“It’s a great win, but we know it doesn’t decide who will go through and we still have one more match to play, which will be much harder. These were a couple of difficult weeks for me, as I did not knew if I would be able to play, but I trained hard and everything went great,” Martinez said.
Porto coach Julen Lopetegui got one over his former Barcelona teammate, Bayern’s coach Pep Guardiola, but insists nothing is decided.
“Jackson indicated he was ok and we decided to take the risk. It will be a very difficult match, we are still halfway through this round, against one of the greatest teams in Bayern’s history, but we were great and this team has lots of ambition,” said the 48-year-old, who will be without suspended wing-backs Danilo and midfielder Alex Sandro in Munich.
Next Story
