This Thursday, FC Porto beat Feyenoord (3-2), at Estádio do Dragão, for matchday six of Group G of Europa League, confirming the qualification to the Round of 32 of the competition. In a crazy first-half, Luis Díaz opened the scoreboard, Soares closed it, with an own goal in between, and the Dragons overcame a daring opponent, taking the lead of the group with a safe and confident performance.

FC Porto held the ball at the start, even if the opportunities came on both ends of the pitch. Proving just that is the fact that Marsman (6m) and Marchesín (10m) had to prevent the goal and delayed the change on the scoreboard. Ten minutes in, the Dragons took control of the match and didn’t take long to score twice. 14 minutes in, Marega passed to Alex Telles and the fullback found Luis Díaz. The winger, returning to the starting team, took advantage of the bad positioning of the goalkeeper and put the blue and whites in the lead. On the following minute, Soares moved up from the left and created panic in the area, which resulted in Malacia scoring an own goal.

Feyenoord’s reaction didn’t take long, and the visitors tied the match again, in less than 10 minutes, thanks to the goals of Botteghin (19m), from a corner-kick, and Larsson (22), who just put it in. With the tie, the team led by Sérgio Conceição rose to the challenge again and even called for a penalty 24 minutes in, for a clear hand on the ball by Sinisterra, taking the role of goalkeeper, after a shot from Danilo. Still, FC Porto continued to push Feyenoord back and got to the lead again in a forward run from Marega on the right wing. The Malian offered Otávio the opportunity to score. Marsman did a great save, but was unable to stop Soares from scoring (33m).

The second-half was more of a battle for the midfield, which meant few opportunities for either team. The first opportunity came thanks to Marega again, passing for Luis Díaz to shoot with power just outside the area (51m), but the shot went outside the post. Feyenoord increased pressure in the next minutes, but the team led by Dick Advocaat faced an unbeatable Marchesín. 70 minutes in, the goalkeeper grabbed what would have been an own goal by Tecatito Corona, after the ball hit the post, and then blocked the goal completely to the shot from Narsingh (73m).

Neither team created more shots on goal until the end of the match. The heavy rain during the second-half blessed the link between FC Porto and European competitions. The Dragons will move forward and end the group stage in the lead. Again.