Porto got their Group G campaign off to a winning start with a 3-1 victory over Fenerbahce at Estadio do Dragao.
Portuguese champions go top of Group G
Porto got their Group G campaign off to a winning start with a 3-1 victory over Fenerbahce at Estadio do Dragao.
The Portuguese raced into a 2-0 lead with two early strikes from Lisandro Lopez (11) and Lucho Gonzalez (14).
Dani Guiza pulled a goal back for Fenerbahce on 29 minutes to give the Turkish outfit some hope.
However, substitute Dorvalino Lino made the game safe in stoppage time when he scored with his first touch after coming off the bench.
Porto started on the front foot and attacked Fenerbahce from the first whistle.
Lopez had the first noteworthy effort on the game on six minutes when he saw his shot from the edge of the box comfortably saved by Volkan Demirel.
Opener
Porto broke the deadlock on 11 minutes when Lisandro stole in at the far post past from some static Fenerbahce defending to slot home Raul Meireles's inviting cross.
Two minutes later the home side doubled their lead when Cristian Rodriguez picked out captain Lucho Gonzalez unmarked on the edge of the box and he volleyed his effort past Volkan to send the home fans into raptures.
Lisandro really should have made it 3-0 on 26 minutes when Lucho sent him clear on goal, but the striker wastefully lifted his shot over the crossbar with only Volkan to beat.
Porto continued to call the tune and Meireles and Lucho both saw shots fly just wide of the target as they pushed forward in search of a third goal.
Fenerbahce pulled a goal back on 29 minutes through Guiza with their first real attack on the Porto goal.
Ugur Boral broke down the left and flighted over a cross for Alex who saw his header superbly saved by Helton, but Guiza was on hand to squeeze home the rebound from an acute angle.
The visitors came close to drawing level two minutes before the break when Alex delivered a dangerous free-kick into the box which Lugano just failed to get on the end of.
Yasin Cakmak, who was having a miserable night in the heart of Fenerbahce's defence, almost gifted Porto a third goal on 48 minutes when he lost possession to Mariano on the edge of the box, but the Porto man dragged his shot wide of the target.
Lucho had a sight of goal on the hour when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box, but the midfielder sliced his shot wide of the target.
Scrambling
Roberto Carlos had Porto keeper Helton scrambling on 65 minutes when his attempted cross just landed over the crossbar with the keeper falling into the back of the net and causing the game to be delayed for a spell as the netting was repaired.
Volkan was called into the action on 72 minutes when he acrobatically palmed away from Bruno Alves' free-kick from fully 30 yards.
Fenerbahce had strong claims for a penalty turned down when Guiza went down in the box under pressure from Nelson Benitez as he tried to get on the end of Roberto Carlos' cross, but their appeals were waved away.
The visitors really should have equalised five minutes from time when Roberto Carlos fizzed over a cross onto the head of Guiza only for the Spaniard to flick his header from close-range wide.
Volkan had a lucky escape three minutes from time when his terrible clearance landed to the feet of Lucho and the Argentine fired his shot towards the empty goal, but the keeper got back to claw away his effort.
Substitute Lino made the game safe in the closing seconds when he scored with his first touch of the game with a simple finish past Volkan after more shoddy defending from Fenerbahce.
| FC Porto |
Team Statistics |
Fenerbahce |
| 3 |
Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 5 |
Corners |
2 |
| 17 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 79 |
Passing Success |
83.7 |
| 27 |
Tackles |
17 |
| 81.5 |
Tackles Success |
82.4 |
| 46.3 |
Possession |
53.7 |
| 54.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
45.4 |
|
