The Portuguesepulled off a surprise win to take a first-leg lead of 3-1 against German Champions Bayern Munich at theEstadio do Dragao.
The homeside were efficient from the start and gave Bayern no time on the ball. They went ahead by 2-0 within the first 10minutes of the match, as their front players applied pressure to the Bavarians’poor defence line. This was also a big psychologicalgame between Porto boss JulenLopetegui and Bayern’s Pep Guardiola, who were team-mates in the 1990’s, whenthey both played for Barcelona.
FormerChelsea man Ricardo Quaresma had ablistering start; he converted a penalty in the third minute to put the homeside 1-0 up, when the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer fouled Colombian strikerJackson Martinez, who was back after six weeks out with a groin injury.
Quaresma then doubled Porto’s lead sevenminutes later, when he rounded the World Cup-winning goalkeeper and slotted theball home beautifully.
The visitorsmanaged to score their only goal in the 28th minute, when ex-Barcelonaman Thiago Alcantara kicked home Jerome Boateng’s cross.
The homeside continued to pressurise and hassle the visitors in the second-half, asthey made several scares for the German keeper; Martinez managed to score aterrific third for the hosts in the 65th minute, to give them 3-1lead against the five-time winners. The absence of some of Bayern’s key players,including Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben,meant they lacked a spark in the final third of the game.
The returnleg will be on the 21st April at the Allianz Arena in Munich, and Porto will begoing into that tie with a significant lead to defend, as they aim toreach the final four of the competition; they have last won Uefa Championstitle in 2004 with, under Jose Mourinho.
The Germans,whose long, unbeaten run in Portugal ended, managed to score what may prove tobe a vital away goal. They could possibly turn this around in the second leg, but at the same timethe Portuguese demonstrated that they could be the ones in the last four.
