Goal-scorer Ricardo Quaresma hailed Porto’s shock 3-1 quarter-final, first-leg, win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday as a night to remember to leave them on the verge of the semi-finals.
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.
Photo: Reuters
Bayern pulled one back through Thiago Alcantara with 28 minutes gone.
However, Porto captain Jackson Martinez, a surprise inclusion after six weeks out with a hamstring injury, added their third on 65 minutes for his 27th goal of the season.
“This is a night to remember, but more important than my performance was our victory,” said the 31-year-old Quaresma, who has scored five goals in his past three games. “We knew we were facing a great team, so we have to be happy. I only do my job, I am in a good place and so is the team. Now we will first think about our next match against Academica and only after that game we will think about Bayern again.”
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,” the Colombia international said. “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.”
Porto coach Julen Lopetegui got one over his former Barcelona teammate, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, but insists nothing is decided.
“Jackson indicated he was ok and we decided to take the risk,” said the 48-year-old, who will be without suspended wing-backs Danilo and midfielder Alex Sandro in Munich. “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.”
Bayern director of sport Matthias Sammer said the result was “annnoying,” but that the Bavarian giants must now prove their mettle.
“That’s football, but it’s annoying,” Sammer said. “Next Tuesday, we are playing at home and we have to deal with this setback until then. If you want to be a great team, you have to be able to come back from this.”
Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said his side will do all they can with their dreams of the European, league and cup treble in the balance.
“It’s never easy when you go 2-0 down early on, when you add it all up, Porto were the better team,” said the Spaniard, who hopes to have wingers Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger available in Munich. “It’s a difficult result for the return leg, but we will try everything.”
Bayern captain Philipp Lahm insists there is still all to play for.
“We always want to play from the back and this style can sometimes be dangerous, but mistakes are part of football,” Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said. “The 3-1 defeat hurts, but nevertheless there is still all to play for in the return leg.”
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care