FC Porto hold their nerve and deservedly beat Stuttgart 2-1 | OneFootball

FC Porto won 2-1 at VfB Stuttgart’s ground in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. The second leg will take place next Thursday at Estádio do Dragão, with the Dragons bringing from Germany a one-goal advantage, scored by Terem Moffi and Rodrigo Mora.

Francesco Farioli made eight changes to the starting eleven – Thiago Silva, Zaidu, Pablo Rosario, Seko Fofana, Rodrigo Mora, Borja Sainz, William Gomes, and Terem Moffi came in for Jakub Kiwior, Martim Fernandes, Alan Varela, Victor Froholdt, Gabri Veiga, Oskar Pietuszewski, Pepê, and Deniz Gül – and the first chance came at 15 minutes, from a corner kick in favor of the visiting team.

From that moment everything changed and, in seven minutes, FC Porto scored two goals, coming close to increasing their lead on two other occasions. First, William Gomes brought the ball from the right to the center and shot against the crossbar; shortly after, Thiago Silva regained possession and served Moffi, who exchanged passes with Borja Sainz before opening the scoring (0-1).

Soon after, Fofana launched Moffi, who was stopped by Nübel when he could have scored the second. In the 27th minute, Zaidu took advantage of a pass from the German goalkeeper, served Rodrigo Mora, and number 86 increased the lead with a first-time shot from the edge of the box (0-2). Near halftime, in a scrappy play near the visitors’ area, the ball fell to Undav and the German international reduced the score to 1-2.

VfB Stuttgart returned with a different attitude and the FC Porto coach made three changes in the first quarter of an hour of the second half – Rodrigo Mora, Borja Sainz, and Terem Moffi went off, Victor Froholdt, Pepê, and Deniz Gül came on. The Brazilian international started on the left wing, had a chance with a diagonal move, and switched to the right when Gabri Veiga replaced William Gomes.

The home fans even celebrated, but Tiago Tomás was in an offside position before Angelo Stiller put the ball in Diogo Costa’s net. With Alan Varela already on for Seko Fofana, the blue and white captain made a safe save and Gabri Veiga nearly made it 3-1 in the last minute of stoppage time. The decision on who advances to the Europa League quarter-finals will be settled next week, in the Invicta city.

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