Anderlecht struggles, draws against Porto and remains undefeated in the Europa League (2-2, videos)

Hubert makes several changes

For this match, the Anderlecht coach, David Hubertdecided to rotate his workforce. By choice or by obligation. Pilchardslightly injured in the ankle against Ghent, was replaced by Thomas Foket. Yet very good these last few weeks, Theo Leoni slipped on the bench in favor of Leander Dendonckerwhose feedback could prove useful in this type of poster. Finally, Kasper Dolberg, in excellent form in recent matches, was supported by Correct and the young Degreefstarted in place of Anders Dreyer. On the other hand, no surprises. We found Portuguese international Diogo Costa on goal. In front of him, the Otavio-Perez pair was responsible for preventing Dolberg from scoring. The midfield was made up of Nico, formerly of Barcelona, ​​the Canadian Eustaquio and Varela. In front, Vitor Bruno trusted Pepê, Samu and Galeno.

Steven Defour looks back on his memories at Porto and Sporting Anderlecht

A goal canceled after 16 seconds… then nothing more

The match got off to a flying start. After sixteen seconds of play, Dolberg scored alone and beat Diogo Costa but the Dane was in an offside position (1st). The Portuguese responded a few minutes later with a first effort on target but Coosemans was attentive (6th). The ball passed quickly from one side to the other and Edozie easily dribbled past his opponent but attempted a shot from a complicated angle (12th). The advantage was on the Brussels side at the end of this first quarter of an hour but be careful not to be trapped on the counterattack. And it was finally following a corner that things changed. Degreef made a mistake in the box and the referee, after the intervention of the VAR, awarded a logical penalty to the Portuguese. Galeno made no mistake and allowed his team to go ahead (0-1, 23rd). After this goal, the pace gradually dropped and Anderlecht had more difficulty creating danger except for a long shot from Dendoncker (45th + 3). The Brussels residents were sorely lacking in the speed of their game and the set phases did not yield much. Porto led at halftime thanks to a Galeno penalty.

A completely crazy end to the match

As in the first half, Anderlecht put themselves directly in the spotlight. Foket found Rits’ head but the Brussels midfielder found… Diogo Costa’s post (47th). It was only a postponement since a few minutes later, Dendoncker performed excellent pressing in front of the Portuguese rectangle. Degreef was then alone and deceived the Portuguese goalkeeper to score his first professional goal (1-1, 51st).

David Hubert made his first change just before the hour mark. Edozie, injured in the ankle, was replaced by Amuzu (58th). The next few minutes were relatively calm. Dreyer and Vazquez came up in place of Degreef and Dolberg (71st). The Mauves were scared and could thank Coosemans, without which Samu had the opportunity to double the lead for Porto (73rd). Sporting responded with a counterattack. Launched from deep, Amuzu found Rits at the entrance to the rectangle but his shot lacked power (77th). While the pace had dropped, Vieira, just on his feet, deceived Coosemans with a long-range shot (1-2, 82nd). Directly afterwards, Amuzu curled his shot at the entrance to the rectangle and beat Diogo Costa to equalize (2-2, 85th).

The score no longer moved and the two teams therefore parted with a draw. Which does the business of Sporting, still undefeated in the Europa League while Porto remains stuck in the depths of the ranking.

The Mauves’ scores after the split against Porto

Relive the meeting here: