In the 7th round of Group C of the Champions League the Slovakian champions Tatran Presov lost unluckily to FC Porto 24:25. The last shot of the game taken by Portuguese left back
Duarte decided about the narrow victory of FC Porto.
Tatran started the game really well and took the lead 6:5 after 10 minutes. Then Eastern Slovakian team made several technical mistakes and Porto scored five goals in a row. Portuguese champions extended their lead to 13:7. In the last minutes of the first half Tatran reduced Porto´s goal advantage to 10:14.
In the 40th minute Portuguese team led comfortably by 7 goals (11:18). From that time Tatran improved their defensive display and their 2-4 defence was really efficient. Amazing saves of Chupryna and high spirit in defence helped Tatran to equalise the game one minute to go (24:24). All chances of Tatran Presov for success were thwarted by Duarte´s two point winning shot in the last second of the game.
Ricardo Costa, coach of FC Porto:
“It was a very tough game. We controlled the game for 40 minutes. Afterwards we let Tatran to get close. In the last ten minutes both team could have won the game, but we were the lucky side and we reached what we wanted. We took two important points in Presov.”
Rastislav Trtik, coach of Tatran Presov:
“I congratulate Porto on a happy win. We started the game in a very good way. But then we had really bad 10 minutes, we did not defend well and this bad phase caused our loss. We were passive in defence and let Porto to do what they wanted. And the start of the second half was the same. When we finally started to play what we said before the game, it looked totally different. This last phase of the match was excellent. Our tactical display could have been compared to the games vs PPD Zagreb or Chekhovski Medvedi. When we started to play 2-4 defence, Porto had serious problems with us. Finally happiness helped Porto in the last second, but we did not deserve to win the game because of our bad phases of the game.”
Hugo Santos Delgado, left wing of FC Porto:
“As our coach said before, we had amazing first 40 minutes in the game. Last ten minutes we did not play well, Tatran levelled the game, but finally we are satisfied with the lucky victory.”
Radoslav Antl, left wing of Tatran Presov:
“Congratulations to Porto on their victory. It was really unhappy game for us. Porto played 40 minutes very well, we played well only 20 minutes. Despite this we did not deserve to lose. Draw would be really fair. I would like to thank the fans and players for their attitude to the game. Although we were seven goals down, we did not give up and came back. It was a tough fair play game that entertained all the fans in the sports hall.”
Gilberto Duarte, left back of FC Porto:
“It was very important for us to win this game. Our main goal is to get to the next phase of the Champions League. We managed to deliver really good performance, but last ten minutes we did not have a good phase of the match. We lost our lead because Tatran had a very strong defence. We had to fight hard until the end. It was very difficult, but such a victory feels good.”
Igor Chupryna, goalkeeper of Tatran Presov:
“We started to defend in an excellent way and took the early lead 6:5. In the next ten minutes it was a catastrophe. We made some technical mistakes and Porto scored on five successive fast counter attacks. During the half time break the coach gave us instructions how to play. He told us to concentrate on the game, give our heart to the game. In the second half we came back. We defended better and equalised the game. Another catastrophe came in the last second when Porto scored the winning goal from their last shot of the game. The atmosphere in the stands was really amazing, the fans were fantastic. We felt their enormous support a lot throughout the entire match.”
FOTO: Viktor Zamborský
Prešov