Porto stun sloppy Bayern as Barca overran PSG

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Porto took advantage of a host of defensive errors to stun Bayern Munich and prevail 3-1 in their Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Bayern came into Wednesday’s clash at the Estadio do Dragao as favourites, but a trio of mistakes at the back leaves them with a huge task at the Allianz Arena next week.

In a dramatic start to proceedings, Ricardo Quaresma took full advantage of two glaring errors from Bayern in the opening 10 minutes, first converting from the penalty spot after Jackson Martinez had dispossessed Xabi Alonso and then been felled by Manuel Neuer inside the box.

Quaresma then robbed Dante and produced a calm finish to double his tally and leave visiting coach Pep Guardiola standing aghast on the touchline.

Bayern, missing the likes of Franck Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Arjen Robben, got themselves back into the tie shortly before the half-hour when Thiago Alcantara scored his first goal since February 2014 with a close-range finish.

But Jerome Boateng’s second-half lapse in judgement afforded Martinez – back after over a month out with a groin problem – the opportunity to net his seventh Champions League goal of the campaign, leaving Bayern facing an uphill challenge in the second leg.

Porto took the lead in the third minute after Martinez robbed Alonso on the edge of the area and then went down under Neuer’s sliding challenge.

The goalkeeper was booked despite appearing to get a touch on the ball and Quaresma sent him the wrong way from the spot.

Robert Lewandowski headed over as Bayern almost found an equaliser, only for another defensive slip in the 10th minute to allow Porto in for their second.

Dante miscontrolled to leave Quaresma with a free run on goal and he coolly slotted past Neuer with the outside of his right boot.

A stunned Bayern slowly regained their composure and, after a period of sustained pressure, got their reward in the 28th minute when Thiago converted Boateng’s low cross at the back post.

Neuer almost suffered further embarrassment six minutes later when he fumbled Alex Sandro’s cross onto the crossbar, before gathering at the second attempt.

The Germany keeper excelled himself 12 minutes into the second half, though, producing a superb reaction save to keep out Boateng’s deflection from close range.

But there was little he could do in the 65th minute as Boateng misjudged the flight of the ball, allowing Martinez to control, round Neuer and slot home.

Porto held on to their two-goal advantage in the final stages in a performance that was only soured by cautions for Sandro and Danilo, ruling them out of next Tuesday’s return leg.

Bayern, meanwhile, will hope to have at least Schweinsteiger and Ribery back for that fixture as they aim to overturn the deficit following their first defeat on Portuguese soil.

Neymar

In France, a quickfire brace from Luis Suarez put Barcelona on course for the Champions League semi-finals as they claimed a comfortable 3-1 first-leg advantage in their quarter-final meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.

After Neymar’s 18th-minute strike had given the Catalan giants an important away goal at the Parc des Princes, Suarez scored twice in 12 second-half minutes to help Barca put one foot in the last four.

Having nutmegged substitute David Luiz, the Uruguayan held off Marquinhos and Maxwell to nudge home his first, before outfoxing Luiz again en route to a beautifully-finished strike.

That set the seal on the result and put Barca on the verge of a seventh European semi-final in eight seasons, with Gregory van der Wiel’s deflected strike eight minutes from time doing little to offer Laurent Blanc’s side hope.

Having fallen behind early on, the French champions were also hit by the injury-enforced withdrawal of captain Thiago Silva – and that loss was keenly felt.

His absence added to the omissions of energetic midfielder Marco Verratti and talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic – both serving one-match bans – and the hosts now face an uphill battle in the return leg next Tuesday.

Following a low-key start, Barca – for whom Dani Alves was suspended – gradually got into their groove and went ahead when Lionel Messi struck Salvatore Sirigu’s right-hand post with a curled strike 13 minutes in.

The visitors’ persistence was eventually rewarded when Neymar opened the scoring five minutes later – Sergio Busquets dispossessing Adrien Rabiot and allowing Messi an opportunity to craft a perfect throughball.

Neymar made no mistake with his finish and PSG were dealt a double blow in the aftermath of the goal, as captain Silva was forced off to be replaced by Luiz.

Porto

Javier Mascherano – one of three Barca changes from the weekend Liga draw with Sevilla – produced a last-ditch tackle to deny Edinson Cavani a sight on goal as Blanc’s men enjoyed their first spell of sustained pressure.

Despite ending the half strongly, PSG almost fell further behind prior to the break when Suarez dispossessed Luiz, only to shoot tamely at Sirigu.

That momentum continued into the second half as long-range strikes from Javier Pastore and Rabiot caused problems Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

However, Suarez took the game beyond PSG with a sublime first after 67 minutes, as he showed skill and strength to beat three markers and prod past Sirigu – registering Barca’s 400th Champions League goal.

Suarez cleverly evaded Luiz again and made it three soon afterwards with the only blow to their night coming when Jeremy Mathieu diverted Van der Wiel’s strike past Ter Stegen with time running out.

Mathieu made amends with a timely block from Cavani’s strike before the end, helping maintain Barca’s two-goal lead ahead of the second leg at Camp Nou.

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