Marseille 0-2 FC Porto
A goal in each half from Zaidu Sanusi and Sérgio Oliveira (penalty) gave Porto a 2-0 victory in France against Marseille to virtually book their spot in the last 16 of the competition. The Dragons need a maximum of one point from their remaining two games in Group C to qualify for the knockouts.
On a day marked by the passing of Diego Maradona, the match was preceded by an impeccably observed minute’s silence for the Argentine legend.
The game could have done with a sprinkling of the great man’s stardust, as a largely drab affair contained plenty of huffing and puffing and no little aggression – especially from the hosts – with both teams ending up with 10 men, but precious little in the way of creative or entertaining football.
Porto will not mind a bit about that as they came away with the points to make it three wins out of four, in what could be defined as an archetypal example of “getting the job done”.
The impressive Zaidu scored from a corner shortly before half time, and Sérgio Oliveira made sure of the victory in the 72nd minute when he calmly converted a penalty. It was the Portugal midfielder’s third Champions League goal this season.
“I expected to have nine points at this stage, despite the teams we were facing” said Porto coach Sérgio Conceição post-match. “We’re in a good position to get to the last 16. This result could be extremely important for that.”
Conceição singled out Nigerian left-back Zaidu for special praise. “Zaidu is showing what I wanted from him. He’s working hard, learning, we knew the quality he has (when we signed him).”
Marseille now hold the unwanted record of 13 consecutive defeats in the Champions League, although the French club’s Portuguese boss André Villas-Boas felt his team were out of luck in conceding the crucial first goal. “We knew the first goal was going to be important, but when things are going negatively these things happen,” he said.
AVB also spoke about the death of Diego Maradona. “The passing of Maradona is terrible news. I think FIFA could retire the No.10 shirt for all football teams in homage to Maradona. It would be a fitting tribute to the best player of all time. It’s a huge loss for football. He was a genius.”
By Tom Kundert
