Two goals from Ricardo Quaresma in the first 10 minutes helped FC Porto to a surprise 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Cl quarter-final on Wednesday.
Bayern, a five-time European champion but currently hit by injuries, paid for its defensive blunders as it struggled to dominate a Portuguese side which is unbeaten in the competition. Thiago Alcantara pulled one back for Bayern in the 28th minute, but Jackson Martinez restored Porto’s two-goal advantage ahead of the return leg.
“We are facing one of the strongest Bayern teams in history,” said Porto’s Spanish coach Julen lopetegui, who is in his first Champions league campaign. “The hardest part will be in Munich.”
Quaresma converted the resulting penalty, and minutes later his pressure forced an error from central defender Dante — allowing the Portugal forward to slot past Neuer for 2-0. His players fought to regain their composure and caught the Porto defense napping when Jerome Boateng’s cross skimmed across the area for Thiago to score at the back post.
However, Porto then produced relentless pressure against an opponent that was a finalist in two of the last three seasons but traveled to Portugal without star players Franck Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Arjen Robben.
Martinez met a long pass and rounded Neuer in the 65th to give Porto a real chance of advancing next week. Though Porto takes a two-goal advantage to Munich, in the return leg it will be without suspended defenders Danilo and Alex Sandro.
Porto has won the European title twice but is in the quarter-final stage for only the first time since 2004, when it won the title under former coach Jose Mourinho. Porto is dreaming of a repeat of the 1987 Cl final, when it memorably upset Bayern with a 2-1 comeback win.
BarCA beat PSG 3-1
Paris: lionel Messi set up Neymar’s opener and luis Suarez scored twice with fine solo runs to give Barcelona a 3-1 victory against a struggling Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday that left the four-time champion with one foot in the Champions league semi-finals. After Neymar slotted home in the 18th minute, Suarez ducked and weaved through the Paris defense, putting the ball through the legs of David luiz, for his first goal.
He ghosted past the PSG defender again 12 minutes later to score his second. PSG pulled a goal back in the 82nd when Gregory van der Wiel’s long-range effort deflected off Barcelona’s Jeremy Mathieu.
Barcelona’s opener started with Sergio Busquets, with the experience of 63 Champions league matches under his belt, dispossessing Rabiot. After a looping pass to Messi, the four-time world player of the year set off at speed toward the backpedalling PSG defense and then scythed through it with a neat pass to Neymar. At the other end, Suarez, gave a textbook demonstration of how it’s done, exploiting PSG weakened defense.