Porto down Vizela at home to fuel ongoing Benfica pursuit
FC Porto 2-0 FC Vizela
FC Porto have secured second place for another week with a 2-0 victory at home to Vizela as they hunt down league-leaders Benfica in defence of the Primeira Liga title.
The Dragons were made to wait until the 41st minute to break the deadlock, bagged by the ever-impressive Pepê before the half-time interval.
The wait for the second promised to be just as excruciating, however, as Mehdi Taremi, with four minutes of normal time left, put the game to bed and reinstated the gap between themselves and on-song Benfica to eight points, with the Northern outfit still with a game in hand to look forward to.
It was an encounter marked by key absences for the likes of Otávio on the pitch, as well as the suspended Sérgio Conceição, unable to command his Porto side from the dugout on Sunday night.
Porto didn’t emerge at all phased, however, running the rule over a shaken Vizela who were fortunate not to have been a goal down as early as the 5th minute after Matheus Uribe failed to keep a close-range header down on its way over the goal.
A steady spread of play almost enabled João Mário to nab the crucial first goal in the 24th minute, but his strike from the right-hand side roamed wide of the mark, past the far-post.
Inspiration seemed to evade Porto for a good while until Galeno was able to rob the ball high up the pitch in the 41st minute, setting Evanilson on his way down the left before gifting Pepê with a comfortable tap-in.
Vizela’s struggles with Porto’s high press followed them into the second period with Evanilson again one of the key recipients as he raced through on goal in the 51st minute, being denied only by a strong Fabijan Buntic right arm in the goalkeeper’s attempts to make himself big.
But just as Vizela’s forced errors diminished, so did the host’s craft in a combative and cagey second half of football that only re-established its excitement as late as the 84th minute.
Gaining ground down the right flank, Porto’s João Mário was able to find Taremi inside the box with a daisy-cutter, taken expertly by the Iranian striker on his left foot and doubling the Dragons’ advantage in the process.
Taremi’s finish and João Mário’s 8th assist of the season sealed Porto’s 14th league victory of the season, setting them two points clear of third-placed Sporting Braga, also victorious, and eight away from Roger Schmidt’s Benfica.
By Patrick Ribeiro