Benfica and Porto, the Portuguese duo are on-track to meet each other in the Europa League Final
Two of the finest Portuguese clubs, Benfica and Porto are on-course to meet each other at the grandest stage of the football, the Europa league Final as both have earned comprehensive victories over Braga and Villarreal respectively in their first-leg semi-finals.
After Benfica defeating Braga 2-1 in the first of the two-legged Semi-finals at Estadio da Luz on Thursday, now it was Porto who has perfectly followed the footsteps of Benfica. Porto under their inspiring coach Andre Villas Boas, have thrashed Villarreal
5-1 in their first leg semi-final at Estadio do Dragon.
It was the night that will stay in the memories of Porto for a long time to come, especially for their ever consistent and irresistible, Falcao, who stole the show for Dragons by scoring four breathtaking goals. Falcao who was unstoppable the other night
has now taken his Europa League goal scoring tally to 15 goals for the season. The other name who added his name on the scorers list was Freddy Guarin who scored in the 61st minute of the match.
The Dragon’s coach, Andre Villas Boas praised his team’s commanding performance, especially hailed Falcao by saying “We can’t kid ourselves the job is done. We have to keep our feet on the ground. The atmosphere away from home, in a foreign city, will be
very different. He’s a fantastic striker, but he plays as part of a unit, which give him strength and opportunities.”
Porto are going through a dream run as this victory over Villarreal became their 13 consecutive win on the trot in all competitions.
Now, only a miracle can only take Villarreal into the finals of the competition as they have an uphill task to achieve of overturning a five goal deficit. The historical records suggest that only four club have gone to win this prestigious competition after
going four goals down in the first-leg. This demoralizing defeat became Villarreal’s heaviest in their last 105 games in the European competition.
On the other side, Benfica are most likely to go through to the finals, as their opponents Braga who have already lost their first tie match, have won only 11 matches against them on the last 72 occasions. Benfica coach Jorge Jesus is extremely confident
about their next match, as he said “It was a good result for us, but we deserved to win by a bigger margin. They never really caused us problems.”
The second tie semi-final matches will be played on 05 May which will be hosted by Villarreal and Braga. The biggest question of who will be crowned as the Europa League winners will be decided on 18 May at Dublin.