After ten seconds of play, Anderlecht put pressure on their opponents with a ball recovery from Tristan Degreef who ideally served Kasper Dolberg in the depth. The Danish striker subtly lobbed Diogo Costa but a whistle from the referee for an offside position cut short the joy of the Brussels residents (1st).
The first Portuguese opportunity fell after ten minutes on a cross from Galeno but Colin Coossemans was decisive with a point-blank save despite an offside whistle in the process (10th).
The Mauves took advantage of their good start to the match to multiply the actions in the last thirty meters of Porto like the solo breakthrough of Samuel Edozie whose shot, eccentric, was pushed back for a corner (13th).
However, the match took an unfavorable turn for Anderlecht after a mistake by Degreef in the rectangle. The 19-year-old winger raised his knee too high on Francisco Moura’s head and the referee immediately awarded a penalty. The latter was converted by Galeno who put the Dragons in control against the run of play (25th, 0-1).
It didn’t take more than this Portuguese opening score to see tempers heat up on the pitch and make the debates undeniably more physical between the two teams with mistakes on both sides. Despite good intentions and a cannonball start, the RSCA was however much more nervous defensively after this penalty goal.
While calm seemed to return to the ranks, Edozie allowed Anderlecht to create a new opportunity with a tense cross but too long for Dolberg (41st). In added time of the first act, Leander Dendoncker tried his luck from afar with a powerful shot but was knocked back with his fists by Costa (45th+5).
Like the start of the match, the start of the second half was going at a hundred miles an hour on the Anderlecht side with a clear and dangerous opportunity on a cross from Degreef headed by Mats Rits but the ball hit the upright to save Porto from the equalizer (49th).
Pressure, intensity and efficiency were the key words of Sporting’s first minutes after returning from the locker room and after a good recovery at the entrance to the rectangle, Degreef punctuated the efforts of his teammates with the equalizing goal which restarted the match (52nd, 1-1). The native of Louvain also scored his first goal with Anderlecht.
After the hour mark, the two teams were level despite the few Portuguese offensives but the Mauves defense was solid with Coosemans present as a last defense.
A new shot from Galeno, Porto’s man in form on Thursday evening, and a long-range attempt from Rits nevertheless made the stadium jump in the last quarter of an hour.
Barely getting into the game, Fabio Vieira threw a cold spell by putting Porto back in front (84th, 1-2). But in the last minutes of the match, Francis Amuzu, who came into play for Edozie, tied the two teams (86th, 2-2).
Belgium
