FC Porto 1-1 Benfica
Four seasons after Kelvin's epic 92nd minute championship winner in the famous Porto-Benfica match at the Estádio do Dragão, it was Benfica who scored a dramatic stoppage time goal at the same venue in the same fixture, as Lisandro Lopez headed in an André Horta cross to earn the visitors a barely deserved point in this afternoon's Clássico.
Rui Vitória or his players won't worry about whether or not it was a just result, as they remain five points clear at the top of the table.
Porto dominated from start to finish and took the lead in the 50th minute through Diogo Jota. But the hosts failed to kill off the game with a second goal and Herrera's crass mistake to give away a needless corner proved a costly error.
Nuno Espírito Santo selected an attacking line-up with a front line of Corona, André Silva and Jota, in front of a midfield trio of Óliver Torres, Otávio and Danilo. Héctor Herrera was relegated to the bench, where he was kept company by Miguel Layún as Maxi Pereira kept his place in the Porto team at right-back. Benfica coach Vitória replaced the injured Fejsa with Samaris, while Eliseu deputised for the unfit Grimaldo.
Ederson kept busy
Porto took control of the game from the first whistle, with the first half played almost entirely in Benfica's defensive half of the pitch. André Silva fired an early low shot towards goal that Ederson had to stretch to gather, then the Brazilian stopper had to be alert to prevent Corona from latching onto a dangerous cross. Ederson looked in serious discomfort soon afterwards, vomiting besides his goal, but he recovered and was able to play on.
Things got worse for Benfica as captain Luisão was forced off with a knee injury, and Lisandro Lopez came on to replace him.
The one-way traffic continued as the Dragons poured forward and twice came close to taking the lead in quick succession. First André Silva, on his 21st birthday, fired in a powerful snapshot on the volley from 20 yards that fizzed just wide of the goal, then a beautiful throughball by Óliver left Corona one-on-one with Ederson, but the Benfica goalkeeper raced out of his goal to smother the Mexican's shot.
Danilo, Jota and Marcano had efforts before Benfica finally mustered a moment of danger at the other end of the pitch, as Lindelöf's deflected header grazed the outside of the post with Casillas beaten on the stroke of half time.
Jota breaks deadlock
Five minutes into the second half Porto at last made the breakthrough. Corona played a diagonal ball into Jota's path in the box, and the 19-year-old outwitted the otherwise excellent Nélson Semedo and fired in a powerful cross-shot, beating Ederson on his near post to trigger wild celebrations among the vast majority of the capacity crowd in the stadium.
Rui Vitória brought on André Horta and the creative midfielder added some spark to Benfica's play. Samaris nearly grabbed an equaliser when his long-range shot drew a fine diving save by Casillas to tip the ball over the bar. But Porto were still having the better of the game, and it needed an excellent diving save from Ederson to keep out a well-struck free kick by Telles.
Nuno made some questionable substitutions, taking off Corona, Óliver and Diogo Jota, which invited Benfica to come at the home side, as Neves, Herrera and Layún entered the fray.
Even so, the Portuguese champions were largely inoffensive and it appeared there was no way back, until Herrera tried to win possession by thundering the ball against a Benfica player - only to miss his opponent and concede a corner. It proved a fatal mistake.
by Tom Kundert
FC Porto: Casillas, Maxi Pereira, Felipe, Marcano, Alex Telles, Danilo, Corona (Rúben Neves, 66′), Óliver (Layún, 76′), Otávio, André Silva, Diogo Jota (Herrera, 87′)
Benfica: Ederson, Nélson Semedo, Luisão (cap) (Lisandro López, 18′), Lindelof, Eliseu, Salvio (Raúl Jiménez, 73′), Samaris, Pizzi, Cervi (André Horta, 59′), Gonçalo Guedes, Mitroglou
Goals:
[1-0] Diogo Jota, 50′
[1-1] Lisandro López, 92’
