UCL: Porto pay again as Til fires PSV to vital Champions League win - Mon Diaries: A Daily Chronicle

UCL: Porto pay again as Til fires PSV to vital Champions League win

PSV Vs Porto
Dutch champions secure first Champions League win at Dragao

Porto remain without a point in the Champions League league phase after a 1-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven, as Guus Til's goal and heroic late defending secured a precious away win for the visitors.


Porto Vs PSV, Til secures first win for Dutch champions...


PSV Eindhoven stunned FC Porto at the Estadio do Dragao tonight, claiming a 1-0 win in this Champions League Matchday 3 clash to secure their first clean sheet in the competition proper in 19 attempts.


The meeting of two sides looking to bounce back from Matchday 2 defeats began at a lively pace, but PSV had the edge in the opening half-hour. A Champions League winner with Bayern Munich in 2020, veteran winger Ivan Perisic glanced a header narrowly wide of the left post inside seven minutes, and an unmarked Mauro Junior was not far off target with an effort from the edge of the box.


Guus Til could have been in trouble for a challenge on Oskar Pietuszewski right on the edge of the box, but the referee waved play on.


Porto started to show more as the home side around the midway point of the first half, and an inventive indirect free-kick routine ended with Gabri Veiga firing well wide as half-time approached. The best chance of the opening period, though, fell to Filip Kostic three minutes before the break, when he latched onto a ball down the left and burst through on goal, only to miscue his effort under last-ditch pressure from Alberto Costa.


With all five of Porto’s Champions League goals conceded so far coming after half-time, as had all five of PSV’s goals shipped in all competitions beforehand, the deadlock felt unlikely to last long after the restart.


And after close calls at both ends, including Esmir Bajraktarevic striking the post, Guus Til finally broke it when a slick passing move inside the Porto box ended with him tapping in at the far post for his third Champions League goal.


Porto were not done yet, though, and after a triple substitution from the home bench, only some miraculous, improvised defending prevented the Dragons from snatching an equaliser in almost comical fashion.


A sloppy pass out from Matej Kovar was intercepted by Hwang In-beom, who surged down the left and squared for an unmarked Andre Silva, only to be denied at point-blank range by the PSV keeper. The danger was far from over, however, as the rebound fell to an onrushing Victor Froholdt, whose rocket was brilliantly blocked on the line by Lutsharel Geertruida.



Upward surge
Upward surge


Barely two minutes later, Diogo Costa’s long ball over the top sent Silva clean through, and he lifted it over Kovar, only for Sergino Dest to hook the goalbound effort off the line.


 

PSV learned their lesson and stayed compact in the closing stages - despite a late scare from Pepe in stoppage time - to see out a precious win that lifts them into the healthier reaches of mid-table in the fledgling league phase. Porto, meanwhile, slip outside the qualification spots after tonight’s defeat, with their first point of the campaign still elusive.



Performance Data
Performance Data

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