http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/SC-Braga-c40460 set up an all Portuguese Europa League final
SC Braga overturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit to defeat Benfica, while FC Porto despite losing 3-2 to Villareal on the night, qualified for the final 7-3 on aggregate. Both, Braga and Porto will meet in the final of the Europa league, played in Dublin, Ireland
at the end of this month.
Braga drew on the night with Benfica to finish with an aggregate score of 2-2 but progressed through on away goals.
FC Porto had all but wrapped up the tie in the first-leg when they thrashed the Spaniards 5-1 in the first-leg at home and just went through the motions last night, losing 3-2 in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011, but going through on aggregate.
Porto’s Columbian striker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Radamel-Falcao-c30276, set a new European record of scoring 16 goals in a competition as he beat the previous landmark of 15 goals set by German, Jurgen Klinsmann, with Bayern Munich back in 1996 when they won the UEFA Cup.
The progress to the final capped a remarkable year for the Portuguese side, who just recently, wrapped up the Portuguese Super Liga title without losing a single game and now are just one step short of European glory.
Going into the second-leg in Spain, Porto knew they had inflicted maximum damage in the first-leg when they came back from a goal down at half time to put 5 past their opponents in the second half, and Falcao accounted for four of those goals.
Villareal stood little chance of progressing to the finals as only thrice in the history of the competition had a team overturned a 4-goal first-leg deficit; Leixoes in 1961-62, Partizan Belgrade in 1984-85 and Real Madrid in 1985-86.
If the Spaniards were to achieve the unlikely feat, they needed to score early in the game, and they were given some hope when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cani-c8305 scored a goal in the 17thminute.
But any feeble hopes they harboured were dashed just 9 minutes later when Hulk’s shot found its way past the keeper off a deflection from a Villarreal defender. And the tie was essentially put past the Spaniards when Falcao scored from inside the box a few
minutes later.
Joan Capdevilla and Giusseppe Rossi scored in the second half for the hosts as they kept their 100% record at home intact, but it was not enough for the Spaniards to go through.
The defeat ended a run of 4 consecutive wins for Villas-Boas’s side, but would hardly hamper their spirits as they remain on course to win their first European trophy after Jose Mourinho guided them to UEFA Champions League glory back in 2004.
"We were very competent over the two legs," said Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas. "Villarreal was very aggressive and we kept having to adapt. They made life difficult for us, as we had expected." Said the Porto manager after the match.
Unlike Porto, Braga were made to work much harder for their qualification, for what will be their first ever appearance in a major European final. Benfica went into the match holding a slender 2-1 advantage and there was little to choose between the two
sides in the opening exchanges of the match.
The goal however, came in the 18th minute when the visitors failed to clear a Hugo Viena cross into the box and Custodio thumped in from close range. The key to Braga’s success in this competition has been their defence, that has kept 8 clean
sheets in the competition.
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