Porto 4-1 Napoli: two centre-back headers and a first Champions League win
At the Dragão, Bednarek (11') and Kiwior (80') headed in from corners, Gabri Veiga made it 2-1 (70') and Samu finished it from the spot (88') after Rafa Marín was sent off. McTominay had equalised for Napoli on 43'. The crowd was 49,190.
Three defeats, no points, bottom of the table. That was Porto’s Champions League record going into matchday four. They came out of it with a rout: 4-1 against Napoli at the Dragão, with their centre-backs doing much of the damage from corners.
Jan Bednarek opened the scoring on 11 minutes, heading in a Gabri Veiga corner for his first Champions League goal. Napoli took a while to get going, but when they did they scored. Scott McTominay levelled just before the break.
Porto own the second half
The home side came out sharper and hit the woodwork twice (Bednarek the post, Veiga the bar) before the lead returned. On 70 minutes, substitute Santiago Gimenez slipped Veiga through and the Spaniard nutmegged Alex Meret. That is two games running with a goal and an assist for him, after Sunday’s 4-0 against Estoril.
Ten minutes later it was another corner and another centre-back. Inbeom Hwang delivered and Jakub Kiwior did what Bednarek had done. Then, with two minutes left, Rafa Marín brought down Samu as he ran clear, was shown red, and Samu rolled in the penalty.
Francesco Farioli said afterwards that Veiga had been ill that morning, and joked that the midfielder should catch the same bug before every game. He also credited the set-piece work and the noise from the stands.
Twenty million through the gates
The 49,190 crowd took the Dragão past 20 million spectators since it opened, twelve days short of its 23rd birthday. The club says this season’s occupancy rate, 93.23%, is its highest ever.
The win lifts Porto to 26th on three points, one place above Napoli on the same total. Sporting, the other Portuguese side still in it, sit tenth with nine. Four matchdays remain, and the next takes Porto to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord on 24 November. First, though, there is a league trip to Vitória in Guimarães on Sunday at 6pm.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Werner100359 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), cropped