FOOTBALL Live

Wednesday December 10, 2008 Finished Estádio do Dragão

2 - 0

Porto

  • Alves 38’
  • Lopez 54’

Arsenal

  1. Porto beat Arsenal

    Porto beat Arsenal

    Porto beat an under-strength Arsenal side 2-0 in Portugal to clinch top spot in Champions League Group G. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Porto
    • Arsenal
    • 90+3' The whistle sounds to signal defeat for the Gunners. Porto top the group and will face a second-placed side from the others, while Arsenal will play against a top team.
    • 90' Three minutes to be added on.
    • 88' Before that Gibbs had time on the touchline and lost control, the ball going out of play. This kind of match may do more damage than good to the fledgling Arsenal players - but what do I know? Who am I to Wenger?
    • 88' Porto change: Freddy Guarin replaces the Hulk.
    • 85' Wilshere comes inside his man after watching him for a moment but his pass inside is intercepted.
    • 83' Bendtner strikes it... straight into the arms of Helton. Arsene Wenger winces in the dugout.
    • 82' Raul Meireles fouls Gibbs near the edge of the box.
    • 79' Arsenal sub: Mark Randall on for Song.
    • 78' Porto changes: Tomas Costa and Mariano on, Lucho and Rodriguez off.
    • 73' Lucho receives the ball in the box as Silvestre is exposed again - he is looking woeful tonight - and avoids a challenge before firing just wide!! Porto will score again on this form.
    • 72' Hulk strays offside - the correct decision.
    • 70' Wilshere fouls Rodriguez as Arsenal struggle to get hold of the ball.
    • 67' Rodriguez immediately attacks over halfway, leaving a man for dead... Eboue refuses to give up, doing enough to put him off - forcing him to shoot wide!! That could have been number three again, Arsenal carved open once more...
    • 66' Arsenal have a corner... Denilson's kick is cleared at the near post.
    • 63' Cristian Rodriguez with an incisive run down the left... he breaks into the box... with two men in the middle he shoots wide of the far upright!! He was entitled to shoot - and takes out his frustration with a studs-up challenge on the near post!!
    • 61' Fernando has a pop, off target.
    • 59' Arsenal changes: Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs on for Ramsey and Diaby.
    • 56' Vela is taken out by a sliding challenge from Fucile as he reaches the by-line... no foul given - and no corner either!! What kind of decision is that from the ref? It's got to be one or the other (and no contact was made with the ball...)
    • 54' A SECOND GOAL FOR PORTO!!! Lisandro races on to a cheeky ball played behind Mikael Silvestre and smacks it into the far top corner from inside the box as the Frenchman gives up the chase.
    • 53' The ball ricochets into the air on the edge of the Porto box, where Ramsey throws himself into an overhead kick... well wide. He didn't connect properly, but 10 out of 10 for effort.
    • 51' Eboue goes looking for retribution and although it was not a terrible challenge, the card comes back out for him.
    • 50' Lucho shown a yellow card for a tackle from behind on Eboue...
    • 46' The second half underway in Portugal. Arsenal have to score if they are to top the group.
    • 45+2' The half-time whistle sounds. Arsenal a goal down.
    • - We have commentary on all tonight's Champions League matches, including the other Group G encounter between Dynamo and Fenerbahce which will decide who goes through to the UEFA Cup. Click on the links in the livebox to the right of the screen to see the latest.
    • 44' Arsenal are losing the ball too often in the middle of the park. Porto look more confident with it at their feet.
    • 41' Bendtner comes forward with the ball and wins a corner. He goes down in the box when it is delivered, but nothing is awarded.
    • 38' GOAL FOR PORTO!! Bruno Alves arrives in the box and is unchallenged as he rises to head down the corner past Almunia!! Good goal, poor marking.
    • 37' The free-kick 25 yards out is blocked by the wall.
    • 36' Song loses the ball to Lucho, who looks set to pull the trigger before Denilson tracks back to foul him from behind...
    • 33' Raul Meireles with a shot that is about a yard wide of Almunia's left-hand post. It dipped and bounced awkwardly.
    • 30' A Ramsey cross is claimed low down by Helton at his near post. Arsenal are doing okay so far. About even between the sides.
    • 27' At the other end Hulk cuts in from the left and shoots low, blocked by Almunia!! Good save. Arsenal clear. The striker dispossessed one William Gallas, back in the side tonight.
    • 24' Helton races out to give his defenders some stick for not picking the Arsenal players up closely enough.
    • 24' Ramsey works his way into space inside the penalty area and shoots towards the far corner - great save by Helton!! He pushed the ball around the post.
    • 20' There is a sizeable visiting fanbase inside the ground, but the home fans are making a lot of noise.
    • 17' Nicklas Bendtner chases a through-ball that Helton is out quickly to claim near the edge of his box.
    • 17' Little goalmouth action in the opening stages. Pretty conservative stuff.
    • 14' Carlos Vela with some skill to feed Abou Diaby, but he is crowded out by an opponent. There are other youngsters in the line-up such as Aaron Ramsey and Alex Song.
    • 12' If Arsenal avoid defeat they will top the group and avoid the other top-placed sides in the knockout phase. Porto are also already through.
    • 9' It is whipped towards the near post, where Manuel Almunia collapses on it. One of those that was well dealt with, but if he had missed it we would have been talking about it for days!!
    • 8' Bruno Alves lines up a free-kick from the left after Emmanuel Eboue committed a foul...
    • 4' Johan Djourou with the first effort on goal, missing the target on this occasion from a set-piece.
    • 1' The match begins, Arsenal in red and white kicking from left to right. Porto in blue and white stripes.
    • - The teams are in: Porto: Helton, Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Pedro Emanuel, Lucho Gonzalez, Fernando, Raul Meireles, Lopez, Hulk, Rodriguez. Subs: Nuno, Stepanov, Guarin, Mariano Gonzalez, Lino, Sektioui, Costa. Arsenal: Almunia, Eboue, Gallas, Silvestre, Djourou, Ramsey, Diaby, Song Billong, Denilson, Vela, Bendtner. Subs: Fabianski, Wilshere, Gibbs, Hoyte, Merida, Randall, Simpson. Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
    • - Welcome to Arsenal's final Champions League Group G match away at Porto.

  • Team Stats

    Porto Stats Arsenal
    42% Possession 57%
    13 Shots 6
    5 Shots on target 3
    1 Saves 1
    2 Corners 4
    18 Fouls 14
    3 Offsides 0
    1 Yellow cards 1
    0 Red cards 0
    35 Tackles 26
    283 Accurate passes 429
    35 Bad passes 103

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Porto
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Helton Helton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
      14 Rolando Da Fonseca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 0 0
      3 Pedro Emanuel 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 34 9 2
      13 Jorge Fucile 0 1 0 3 2 0 0 23 0 7
      2 Bruno Eduardo Regufe Alves 1 3 2 1 0 0 0 19 1 1
      25 Fernando Francisco Reges 0 1 0 1 2 0 1 44 3 5
      16 Raúl Meireles 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 39 4 3
      8 Luis González 0 2 0 3 1 0 0 22 6 7
      10 Cristian Rodriguez 0 2 0 1 2 0 0 21 6 4
      12 Givanildo Vieira de Souza 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 17 4 5
      9 Lisandro López 1 2 2 0 5 0 0 26 2 0
      11 Mariano Gonzalez 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0
      33 Nuno Simões do Espírito Santo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      6 Freddy Guarin 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 1
      20 Tomás Costa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
      4 Milan Stepanov 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      17 Tarik Sektioui 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 Dorvalino Maciel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Arsenal
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Manuel Almunia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 2 0
      20 Johan Djourou 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 38 5 3
      17 Alexandre Song 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 47 5 5
      18 Mikael Silvestre 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 53 25 2
      10 William Gallas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 38 2 2
      15 Denilson Pereira Neves 0 1 0 4 1 0 0 74 23 7
      16 Aaron Ramsey 0 3 2 0 1 0 0 28 1 0
      27 Emmanuel Eboue 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 28 0 2
      2 Vasiriki Abou Diaby 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 26 9 2
      26 Nicklas Bendtner 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 22 5 0
      12 Carlos Vela 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 32 16 1
      40 Kieran Gibbs 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 15 5 0
      50 Jay Simpson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      21 Lukasz Fabianski 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      47 Mark Randall 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 8 4 1
      19 Jack Wilshere 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 12 1 1
      43 Fran Merida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      41 Gavin Hoyte 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • 73' Lucho receives the ball in the box as Silvestre is exposed again - he is looking woeful tonight - and avoids a challenge before firing just wide!! Porto will score again on this form.
    • 67' Rodriguez immediately attacks over halfway, leaving a man for dead... Eboue refuses to give up, doing enough to put him off - forcing him to shoot wide!! That could have been number three again, Arsenal carved open once more...
    • 63' Cristian Rodriguez with an incisive run down the left... he breaks into the box... with two men in the middle he shoots wide of the far upright!! He was entitled to shoot - and takes out his frustration with a studs-up challenge on the near post!!
    • 56' Vela is taken out by a sliding challenge from Fucile as he reaches the by-line... no foul given - and no corner either!! What kind of decision is that from the ref? It's got to be one or the other (and no contact was made with the ball...)
    • 54' A SECOND GOAL FOR PORTO!!! Lisandro races on to a cheeky ball played behind Mikael Silvestre and smacks it into the far top corner from inside the box as the Frenchman gives up the chase.
    • 38' GOAL FOR PORTO!! Bruno Alves arrives in the box and is unchallenged as he rises to head down the corner past Almunia!! Good goal, poor marking.
    • 27' At the other end Hulk cuts in from the left and shoots low, blocked by Almunia!! Good save. Arsenal clear. The striker dispossessed one William Gallas, back in the side tonight.
    • 24' Ramsey works his way into space inside the penalty area and shoots towards the far corner - great save by Helton!! He pushed the ball around the post.
    • - Welcome to Arsenal's final Champions League Group G match away at Porto.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Kyros Vassaras

  • Porto

    Manager: Jesulado Ferreira

    Captain: . Lucho Gonzalez

    Starting line-up

    • H. da Silva
    • J. Fucile
    • B. Alves Goal
    • -. Rolando
    • .. Pedro Emanuel
    • F. Fernando
    • .. Lucho Gonzalez Yellow Card Substitution Out (78′)
    • R. Meireles
    • L. Lopez Goal
    • C. Rodriguez Substitution Out (78′)
    • G. Hulk Substitution Out (88′)

    Subs

    • H. Nuno
    • -. Lino
    • .. Mariano Gonzalez Substitution In78′
    • T. Sektioui
    • M. Stepanov
    • F. Guarin Substitution In88′
    • T. Costa Substitution In78′

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Arsenal

    Manager: Arsene Wenger

    Captain: Manuel Almunia

    Starting line-up

    • M. Almunia
    • E. Eboue Yellow Card
    • J. Djourou
    • W. Gallas
    • M. Silvestre
    • .. Denilson
    • A. Song Substitution Out (79′)
    • A. Ramsey Substitution Out (59′)
    • A. Diaby Substitution Out (59′)
    • C. Vela
    • N. Bendtner

    Subs

    • L. Fabianski
    • M. Randall Substitution In79′
    • K. Gibbs Substitution In59′
    • F. Merida
    • G. Hoyte
    • J. Simpson
    • J. Wilshere Substitution In59′

    Injured

    • T. Rosicky
    • T. Walcott
    • D. Eduardo

    Suspended

    • R. van Persie