Diogo Costa held City off for 46 minutes. Haaland needed two chances
Porto lost 0-2 at the Dragão on the opening matchday of the Champions League league phase. Both goals came from crosses in the second half, and Porto had not put a single shot on target before the break.
Half-time said 0-0, and half-time was lying. Porto went in level with Manchester City without having put a single shot on target; the two efforts they did produce were flagged offside before they could count for anything at all.
What was holding the scoreline up had a name. Diogo Costa made three high-class saves in the first half, two of them denying near-certain goals to Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki. It was the best thing about Porto’s night, and it lasted 46 minutes.
Two crosses, two goals
In the 47th minute an Enzo Fernández cross found Haaland getting in front of Jakub Kiwior, and the header made it 0-1. The Dragão pushed its team forward for a quarter of an hour, and then the second goal arrived by exactly the same route: a Rayan Aït-Nouri cross, Haaland again, brace complete.
UEFA’s official match record confirms the 0-2 and the fixture’s place in the first of eight league-phase rounds. It is Porto’s first defeat of the season, after a start that had included a 3-0 win at the Fontelo in Viseu.
Some perspective is in order. In a 36-team league phase that only closes in January, one opening defeat costs three points and leaves seven games, four of them at home. The worry is not the result. It is the picture the first 45 minutes painted.
Sporting are up on Wednesday against Galatasaray at 20:00. Torreense, Portugal’s other European entrant this season, begin their Europa League campaign later in the calendar.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
