FC Porto might have seen off AS Roma in their final round of qualifying for the Champions League, but they couldn’t shake off FC Copenhagen in their opening group game last night in Portugal.
An Andreas Cornelius header after 55 minutes earned the Danish side a 1-1 draw, although they were made to hang on after Jan Gregus picked up a second yellow card with 14 minutes of conventional time remaining.
Unbeaten run continues
Porto had gone ahead through Otavio after 13 minutes. But the ten men, who are now unbeaten in their last 15 – including seven games in the CL – were not to be denied.
Porto, with former Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas in goal, only seriously threatened in the final five minutes, coming close three times in a frenetic finish.
“Not a victory”
“One point is not a victory today. We are very satisfied with it but it’s no victory because we were at least as good as Porto today,” FCK coach Ståle Solbakken told fck.dk following the game.
“We produced the same number of chances and we had control of the game until they played 11 vs 10.”
Third favourites to win group
Leicester City, meanwhile, won 3-0 away at Club Brugge to top Group G.
FCK’s odds have accordingly been shortened to win the group from 14/1 to 10/1.
