This Tuesday, FC Porto tied against Schalke (1-1), at the AufSchalke Arena, in Gelsenkirchen, for matchday 1 of Group D of the UEFA Champions League. Embolo scored for the German vice-champion (64m), and Otávio, from a penalty, tied it (75m). Galatasaray, who beat Lokomotiv Moscow at home (3-0), is in the lead of the group.

Gelsenkirchen is usually a good city for FC Porto, but it wasn’t inspiring enough for Alex Telles to materialize the usual strong start FC Porto showed. Naldo put his hand on the ball in the area, and Alex Telles, as usual, took the responsibility of taking the penalty, but Ralk Fahrmann read the intention of the fullback and saved the shot. 13 minutes had gone by, exactly Alex Telles’ favourite number.

Despite the misfortune, FC Porto remained calm and organized, never allowing Schalke to take danger to Casillas, who made history in the Champions League tonight: the Spanish goalkeeper is now the player with the most matches in the competition (20). It should be said that the German vice-champion only bothered the blue and white defence on two occasions in the first-half, first in a header from Naldo (20m), and then in a shot from Serdar (27m). And so the break came without goals.

FC Porto had an incredible miss after the break: in a studied play, Alex Telles passed to Otávio, who found Filipe in front of goal, but the goalkeeper stopped the shot almost by accident (47m). And it’s always nerve-wrecking to concede when you were so close to scoring, but that’s exactly what happened to the national champions: Embolo came alone in front of Casillas in a counter-attack and, with some luck, Schalke had the advantage (64m).

Forced to chase the scoreboard, FC Porto would again be given a penalty. And, this time, the Dragons made it count. Otávio red the goalkeeper’s intention and shot to the opposite side, setting the tie at the AufSchalke Arena (75m). Both teams could have scored the 2-1, but the tie remained until the end and the points were split in the return to Gelsenkirchen.