Johannesburg:
Portuguese football club FC Porto qualified for the quarterfinals in the Champions League for the first time since 2009 as they continued their unbeaten run in the league with a 5-1 win over Swiss side Basel on Tuesday.
Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar fired a goal each to help Porto record a 4-0 win at the Estadio do Dragao. Porto’s win also saw a continuation of Basel’s poor form in Portugal as their coach Paulo Sousa endured a miserable return to his homeland. The first leg had finished 1-1 three weeks ago in Switzerland.
The Swiss champions have yet to win on six trips to Portugal while Sousa, a former Benfica and Sporting Lisbon midfielder, saw his side fail again in their bid to reach the quarterfinals for the first time, Sport24 reported.
Algeria’s Brahimi eased the nerves of the home fans and put the two-time champions in charge with a precision free-kick after just 14 minutes, following an offence from former Argentina international Walter Samuel, who won the 2010 Champions League with Inter Milan. Samuel was later sent off in the final minute for a second yellow card.
Porto’s Brazilian captain Danilo was then carried off with a worrying injury, and left the stadium in an ambulance, when he collided just outside the penalty area with his own goalkeeper and compatriot Fabiano.
Herrera then doubled the lead for Porto with his third goal of the competition with a neat right-foot shot from the edge of the area two minutes after half-time as Basel continued to crumble.
As Basel struggled to stay in touch, the evening went from bad to worse for the visitors on 56 minutes with another precision strike from Casemiro.
Cameroonian Aboubakar put the finishing touches for Porto with their fourth goal on 76 minutes with another high quality strike from 25 yards.
Porto, who won the competition in 1987 and 2004, now go into the hat for the quarterfinals for the first time since they were beaten 3-2 in the last eight by Manchester United in 2009, the report added.
