Porto Win Europa League Trophy
Porto edge Braga to win the European trophy
Falcao has brought Porto their seventh European trophy after scoring a superb goal in Andre Villas-Boas’s side 1-0 win over Sporting Braga. Striker’s precious header was sufficient for a big Europa League celebration on the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Porto have thus claimed their second big success under Boas who joined the Portuguese champions last year. However, it was a pretty tense game in Ireland as both sides created several clear chances which could have reserved big surprises for each of the two sides. Eight yellow cards were also shown last night, five for Braga and three for the better side. Hulk was the first though to miss the opener in the seventh minute. The Porto striker was picked in good position only to finish it of the far post.
Last night’s final was the first one for Braga who had never had to chance to reach the last term in a continental competition, while Porto were chasing their second UEFA trophy after the 2002-2003 one. Falcao scored the only goal of the night in the 44th minute following a perfect cross from the right which the best scorer of the competition headed into the right hand post, past keeper Artur.
Thus, the half time went 1-0, including at the same time two yellow cards. Braga collected both of them through Hugo Viana and Silvio who both were cautioned for clumsy interventions on Hulk. Concerning the second half, it started with Braga’s big chance. Mossoro, who was introduced in the 45th minute, stole the ball from Viana to start an outburst towards the goal. Unfortunately, his finish was saved by a vigilant Helton who managed to keep the sheet clean throughout the entire 94 minutes.
Porto’s first yellow came in the 50th minute after the Romanian defender Sapunaru paid tribute to ugly challenge. But Garcia and Mossoro followed him, the latter one being cautioned for barks. Domingos then replaced Lima with Meyong, but even so, Braga’s attack didn’t bring something new but a lot of effort. Boas made a couple of changes with 20 minutes left. Thus, Porto introduced Belluschi and James Rodriguez for Guarin and Varela respectively.
The last ten minutes brought a couple of more yellow cards shown to Kaka and keeper Helton for time-wasting, but also a good opportunity for Belluschi whose range effort threatened Braga with a second goal. Anyway, it went 1-0 and Porto are the second Europa League champions. This is also their first European trophy since 2004, when Jose Mourinho led Porto to a big UEFA Champions League success.
FC Porto had seven shots, six of which off the target, seven corners and a 75 percent of passing success, while Braga performed five shots on target, two of which on the target, three corners and 62 percent of passing success. Overall, the two sides committed 43 fouls, 23 of which coming from the winners.
FC Porto – Helton; Pereira, Otamendi, Rolando, Sapunaru; Fernando, Moutinho, Guarin; Silvestre, Hulk; Falcao. Reserves: F. Belluschi, J. Rodriguez, Beto, R. Micael, Maicon, Souza, Walter.
Sporting Braga – Artur; Garcia, Paulao, Rodriguez, Silvio; Custodio, Vandinho, Alan, Viana, Paulo Cesar; Lima. Reserves: M. Mossoro, Elderson, H. Barbosa, L. Salino, Meyong, Kaka, C. Figueiredo.
