Undefeated
Atletico Madrid recorded their fifth victory in this Champions in the last match of the group stage against Porto. Raul Garcia and Diego Costa got the goals to beat the Portuguese side in a frantic first half in the Vicente Calderon.
ATLETICO 2-0 PORTO
Atletico: Aranzubia, Manquillo, Alderweireld, Godin, Insua, Gabi, Koke, Adrian (Leo Baptistão, 82'), Óliver (Arda, 61') Raúl García, Diego Costa (Villa, 46')
Porto: Helton, Danilo, Maicon, Mangala, Alex Sandro, Fernando, Lucho (Ghilas, 64 '), Defour (Herrera, 78), Varela, Joshua (Lica, 46'), Jackson Martinez.
Goals:
Min14 1-0. Raúl García
Min 37 2-0 Diego Costa
Champions League nights on the banks of the Manzanares river are special and despite having done the homework before playing the game, Atletico went straight after Porto because this team only knows one way to play. Porto were looking to get second place ahead of Zenit who were playing in Vienna. The Portuguese players can looking for the win but they came up against one of the most impregnable teams in Europe.
It was an heated start to the match in the freezing night of Madrid. The first occasion came from the boots of Martinez Jackson who crashed the ball against the wodwork. Simeone’s warriors were shaken by the Portuguese pressure but they soon found their feet, with the word of Raúl García echoing aroun "We do not know the word relax." The Spanish striker managed to get free inside the box with his beat Helton with a shot that he wasn’t stopping to make it 1-0.
Porto came looking for an equaliser and againt hit the woodwork, this time Varela put his header onto the crossbar. Shortly after Jackson Martinez went down inside the area and referee pointed to the spot. Aranzubía who was making his home debut saved at full stretch to deny the visitors the leveler and they were made t pay for their miss. Óliver who sees space a couple of seconds before the others played the ball in towards Diego Costa who first checked with the head then beat Helton who was coming out to him o make it 2-0 before the half time whistle sounded.
In the second half, the pace dropped. With a team heavy in youth player and a homegrown midfield of Koke, Gabi and Óliver, Simeone's team contolled the pace of the game, thereby preventing the reaction of the Portuguese Dragons who failed to trouble a defense marshaled by Alderweireld and Miranda .
The closing stages of the meetings were marked by tranquility and calm after the storm unleashed by Atletico in the first half. The connection between Raúl García and David Villa caused problems for the Portuguese defense and rather than look for a goal of their own, Porto were found trying o stop Atleti adding.
An accomplished performance from Atleti that see’s them go in to the last 16 of the champions league in confident fashion with five wins and a draw .
