Porto 5 Villareal 1:PROLIFIC COLOMBIAN Falcao struck four second-half goals to help Porto battle back from a half-time deficit against Villarreal last night and leave the Portuguese giants all but through to the Europa League final at the Aviva Stadium on May 18th.
Villarreal took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Cani but Porto, led by the prolific Falcao, hit back with five goals in a stunning display after the break to take total control of the semi-final.
Falcao won and converted a penalty to draw Porto level and, after Fredy Guarin had made it 2-1 to the hosts, the Colombia international netted further goals in the 67th, 75th and 90th minutes to complete a remarkable comeback.
The visitors had a great chance to take the lead after just six minutes when Nilmar was sent through on goal, but the Brazilian was denied by goalkeeper Helton.
Giuseppe Rossi also had a good opportunity for the Spaniards in the 28th minute before Porto went close in the first half as Hulk’s shot from the edge of the area clipped the outside of the post.
But Villarreal boasted the lead at the break thanks to Cani.Nilmar curled in a cross to the near post and Cani, having got in between Fernando and Helton, headed past the Porto goalkeeper.
Porto needed just four minutes of the second period to draw level, when Falcao beat Diego Lopez in a race for Guarin’s through-ball and went crashing over the Villarreal goalkeeper. Falcao sent Lopez the wrong way from the spot-kick.
Porto got their noses in front after 61 minutes. Guarin saw his first effort come back off the near post and the keeper but he headed the rebound past Lopez.
Falcao made it 3-1 in the 67th minute with a tap-in following good work down the right by Hulk.
He made it 4-1 in the 74th minute with a brilliant diving header into the top corner and then, in the final minute, he guided James Rodriguez’s corner back across Lopez and into the far side of the net to put the icing on the cake for rampant Porto.
FC PORTO: Helton, Cristian Sapunaru, Rolando, Álvaro Pereira, Nicolás Otamendi, Fernando, João Moutinho, Freddy Guarín (Souza, 79), Cristian Rodríguez (Silvestre Varela, 72), Hulk (James Rodriguez, 84), Falcao.
VILLARREAL: Diego López, Carlos Marchena, Mateo Musacchio, Mario Gaspar, Catalá, Santiago Cazorla, Bruno, Borja Valero (Wakaso, 67), Cani (Javier Matilla, 71), Nilmar (Marco Ruben, 72), Giuseppe Rossi.
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)