Thursday 6 November 2014

Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Porto

Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Porto: Martinez and Brahimi send Dragoes into knockout stages
Porto are through to the knockout stages of the Champions League with two games to spare after seeing off Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in Spain. Julen Lopetegui's men produced a fine display at San Mames and, despite missing a penalty and several other opportunities, sealed an impressive Group H triumph.  Jackson Martinez was guilty of wasting numerous chances, missing the target with two excellent opportunities in the first half before striking the bar with a spot-kick three minutes before the interval.  Athletic were seemingly lifted by Martinez's penalty miss as they started the second period with renewed determination, but the Colombian made amends in the 55th minute, netting from close range.  A Guillermo Fernandez header nearly gave the home side an equaliser as the forward's effort hit the post after 69 minutes.  And the visitors capitalised on that near miss shortly after, as Yacine Brahimi pounced on a goalkeeping error by Gorka Iraizoz to net his fourth Champions League goal of the season.  Porto's victory means they stay top of the pool - with Shakhtar two points adrift following their win over BATE - but Athletic's miserable Champions League campaign is now officially over, as they are rooted to the bottom with just one point from four fixtures.  The absence of Athletic's regular frontman Aritz Aduriz with a hamstring injury left a void in their attack, with Porto looking far more comfortable as they deployed a recognised target man in the form of Martinez, who kept the hosts’ defence occupied from the start.  The 28-year-old should have done better in the 13th minute, though, as he pounced on Danilo's wonderful right-wing cross and poked just wide from eight yards after squeezing ahead of Aymeric Laporte.
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