http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 pull ahead of Sevilla in Europa League
FC Porto beat Sevilla 2-1 in the first leg of the Europa League 32 round at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez on Thursday evening. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Freddy-c14144 Guarin scored for the visitors to cancel out Frederic Kanoute’s strike. Porto go into the second leg with
two away goals.
Sevilla advanced to the knockout round after ending runners up in Group G, while Porto topped the Group L after winning all six matches. Gregorio Manzano made six changes to the starting line-up that lost to Racing Santander over the weekend. Luis Fabiano
and Frederic Kanoute started up-front for the hosts. Porto started with the same line-up that beat Nacional. Their prolific goal scorer, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hulk-c16436, started upfront in a 4-3-3 formation.
The game started in a lively fashion, as the visitors came out attacking. Porto’s highest goal scorer, Hulk ,was a constant threat for the hosts through his set pieces. Martin Cacares brought down James Rodriguez just outside his sides box. The Colombians
shot from the resulting free kick was deflected against the Sevilla wall and no goal was scored. The game settled after a frantic start for the visitors, as Sevilla started getting involved in the match. Soon after, the host goalkeeper, Andres Palop, made
a superb save from Jao Moutinho’s brilliant volley from just outside the box. Sevilla’s first real chance of the game came in the 38th minute, when Jesus Navas forced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Helton-c16018 Arruda into a fantastic save from a shot that was too close for comfort.
Heading into half time, both teams were scoreless.
The home side made a good start to the second half with Kanoute’s shot from the edge of the box which was blocked by Rolando. Just before the hour mark, Rolando put Porto in the lead with a little help from Rodriguez. Rodriguez whipped in a ball from a free
kick, which was calmly slotted home by the centre back to make it 1-0 for the visitors. Moments later, Kanoute equalized for the hosts. He rose above Porto defenders and angled the ball home with his head from a lovely cross by Rakitic. Helton had no chance
to stop the header as the score became 1-1. Just a minute later, Fabiano came close to score the second for the hosts but Helton made a tremendous save to deny the striker a goal.
The pace of the game suddenly changed as both teams hunted for an equalizer. The visitors were able to find a goal in the 85th minute. Substitute Freddy Guarin tapped home from close range after Rodriguez helped to steal the ball from Palop. The
hosts pressed for an equalizer but Porto held onto the lead to register a comprehensive away win.
The second leg of the tie will be played on 23rd February at the Estadio do Dragao Porto.
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