Together, always together, we are going to win again.
It’s been a very interesting week for FC Porto who has experienced significant highs and significant lows since their last league match. The champions suffered a hard nil-nil draw at Leixões knocking them more off their path to their fifth title after falling 9 points behind leaders Benfica and 8 points behind Braga whom they faced this weekend. Porto did have something to celebrate about this past week after defeating Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League final 16 clash. The Dragons will be traveling to London with a one goal lead on the Gunners.
Although a Saturday press conference at the Dragão is not a strange occurrence this one lent some time to a particular subject other than Sunday’s meet up with Braga. The entire team was present for Saturday’s press conference with Nuno speaking on behalf of the team and its staff. At the beginning of this post you can listen to the clubs stance on the suspension of Hulk for 4 months and Sapunaru for 6 months. I will respectively call in to read the statement in English.
Following the action at the start of the week the Dragons faced a tough opponent in Sporting Braga this yesterday. The Dragons were coming off a win at home to Arsenal and were ready for a challenge. For the first time in the two clubs history of meeting one another Braga had the advantage and the most to lose as they sit comfortably in second place with a chance to go back to the top of the table with a win at the Dragão. Despite Braga holding the advantage going into the match the Dragons held one clear cut advantage, home pitch. Porto had yet to lose at home in their previous matches, with two teams being only able to produce a draw at the Dragão. However, Braga had only one league defeat in a 1-0 match at Guimarães.
Going into Sunday’s match up the Porto players seemed disinterested in their opponent, especially Rolando who spoke to the press following the clubs last training session before the meet up. “Braga does not interest me. It’s just the next opponent. I do not care who plays for Braga, to me that is irrelevant,” the defender told the press, “Any opponent that is ahead of us is strange, because we are accustomed to being ahead but we know that we will overcome and reach our goals.” Although an FC Porto win would help rivals Benfica hold onto their first place spot Rolando refused to show any concern as the team has only one goal, to win matches in order to win the league once more.
Coming into the match at the Dragão Sunday the Porto players entered the pitch wearing shirts with the numbers “12” and “21” on them with the names of Hulk and Cristian Sapunaru respectively to show support for their suspended counterparts. The applause at the Dragão showed a solid sign of support for the suspended Porto players. If there had been any unity between the two clubs, as players from both teams were disciplined by the disciplinary committee, all had been forgotten by the start of the match.
Porto started the match off very aggressively, creating many chances in the first few minutes. It would be in the 16th minute that a ball from Silvestre Varela would find Raul Meireles for the Dragon’s first goal of the evening. The 35th would bring about another goal for the Dragons as Alvaro Pereira would put the ball in the back of the net. The nightmare would continue to grow for Braga as a minute later a ball from Silvestre Varela would find its way to Falcao for Porto’s third goal of the night at the 36th minute.
Going into halftime Braga was facing a serious headache after being massacred in the first half. Braga had not been able to stop Silvestre Varela on the left, who going into halftime already had two assists, and it showed through the 3-0 score line. Going into the second half Braga was unable to bring any more enthusiasm than they had previously showed in the 45 minutes already played; though they were able to set up a few crosses Helton was quick to react and Braga would continue to not impress. It would be Falcao’s second goal of the evening and Porto’s fourth at the 73rd that would seal the deal for the Dragons.
Although Jesualdo Ferreira would substitute the evening’s playmaker Silvestre Varela, the Dragons would still able to set up one more goal as Mariano would set up Fernando Belluschi for their final goal of the evening. At the 91st minute Alan would score Braga’s one and only goal which would not be enough to stop Braga from sinking.
“Today, there was here a great football game between two great teams that did everything to win. FC Porto showed more aggression, played better and had more ability to create chances and score goals, but this game proved Braga that led the league during all these days, “ said Ferreira following the match, “We are 5 points off Braga and 6 off Benfica. There are 30 points and we will discuss them to the limit. We are keen to play. And so, using a phrase already often said, I ask: Let us play. “
