Roller hockey champions: Barcelona beat FC Porto at Dragão Arena | OneFootball

FC Porto suffered their first European defeat of the season by losing to FC Barcelona 3-5, remaining with 12 points in Group A of the Champions League, now led by the Catalans with 13. Carlo Di Benedetto, Hélder Nunes, and Ezequiel Mena were the scorers for the Dragons at Dragão Arena.

With the return of Ricardo Ares, Xavier Barroso, and Carles Grau to Invicta, the team led by Paulo Freitas initially created the best chances through Carlo Di Benedetto, Hélder Nunes, and Telmo Pinto, without success. About four minutes before halftime, a cross shot by Gonçalo Alves forced Sergí Fernández to intervene, and shortly after, Marc Grau put the visitors ahead (23m) in one of the rare opportunities of that period.

At the start of the second half, Xavier Barroso extended the lead to 0-2 (28m). Sergí Fernández continued to deny shots from Rafa and Carlo Di Benedetto – the latter from a direct free kick resulting from the tenth foul – and Sergi Llorca made it 0-3 (33m). The French international from FC Porto reduced the deficit in the following minute after a combination with Hélder Nunes (34m). Gonçalo Alves missed a direct free kick awarded shortly after, Barroso scored again in the last ten minutes, and Hélder Nunes reduced the score to 2-4 (45m) by beating Sergí Fernández.

Sergi Aragonés made it 2-5 at 46 minutes. Ezequiel Mena decreased the gap in the last minute, and although the refereeing team initially annulled the play considering the ball had not entered, the Argentine confirmed the 3-5 two seconds before the end. In the final moments, Carlo Di Benedetto and Gonçalo Alves received blue cards for protests and left the rink.

In the next match, scheduled for Sunday at 19:00 and broadcasted by Porto Canal, FC Porto will travel to the CH Carvalhos pavilion in the 13th round of the national championship.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.