Porto have one foot in the Champions League’s semi-finals after a shocking 3-1 win at home over Bayern Munich. The away goal will give Bayern hope, that they can overturn this deficit next week at the Allianz Arena, but in order to do that, Bayern will have to fix their appealing defending, which led to all three Porto goals.
Porto got off to a dream start as right winger Ricardo Quaresma scored twice in the opening ten minutes. First, Jackson Martinez pressed Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso into a rare mistake on the edge of his area. Martinez was one-on-one with Manuel Neuer, and while it appeared that Neuer got the ball, the Spanish referee Carlos Carballo disagreed and pointed to the spot. Quaresma drilled home the third-minute penalty.
Porto doubled their lead seven minutes later as a result of another Bayern defensive mistake. This time it was Dante who turned the ball over and Quaresma took advantage to make it 2-0 after just ten minutes.
Despite being without injured wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, plus midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, but still enjoyed 70 per cent possession and made it count by scoring from their first real chance. Centre-back Jerome Boateng put in a low cross from the right and Thiago stabbed home from close range.
It finished 2-1 at the break, but only Neuer’s reflex save tipped a shot by Mexico midfielder Hector Herrera over the bar to deny Porto a third goal with nearly an hour gone. Their third came when Boateng mistimed his jump and Martinez accelerated onto the ball and went past Neuer to leave Bayern with it all to do if they want to reach a fourth consecutive Champions League semi-final.
