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UCL Rewind: Porto hold off Juventus; Haaland leads Dortmund past Sevilla

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An inspired FC Porto secured its first competitive win over Juventus,  holding off the Italian giants, 2-1, in their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg on Wednesday night.

Mehdi Taremi gave Porto the lead a little more than a minute into the game, collapsing on a poor pass from Rodrigo Bentancur. Sérgio Conceição’s side met Juventus’ slow buildup with a high press, forcing the error from Bentancur. The Iranian forward pounced on the ball before Wojciech Szczęsny, scoring the first Champions League goal of his career.

Porto once again made Andre Pirlo’s men pay for starting slow, this time needing just 20 seconds to score in the second half. An unchallenged run from Wilson Manafá allowed the fullback to find Moussa Marega in space, leading to Marega beating Szczęsny at his near post.

Juventus scored an important away goal before the final whistle courtesy of Federico Chiesa, the result of a strong final 15 minutes. The Italian latched onto the end of a cross sent in from Adrien Rabiot and found the back of the net with a great strike.

Juventus will be on the front foot while Porto will look to hold onto its aggregate lead when these two clubs meet again on March 9th in Turin.

Sevilla 2 – Dortmund 3

A strong first-half performance from Erling Haaland secured a comeback and 3-2 win for Borussia Dortmund over Sevilla.

Suso’s deflected strike from outside the eighteen gave Sevilla a lead just seven minutes in. Mats Hummel’s attempted clearance hurt more than it helped, redirecting it out of the reach of goalkeeper Marwin Hitz.

Borussia Dortmund responded with three of their own before the end of the first half, starting with a long-distance strike from Mahmoud Dahoud. The midfielder was given space outside the box, shocking Sevilla with a perfectly hit shot that drew the game level.

Haaland scored his first of the night just nine minutes later, performing a flawless give-and-go with Jadon Sancho before finishing past Agustín Marchesín. The Norwegian extended Dortmund’s lead just before halftime, finishing off a counterattack orchestrated by Marco Reus.

A late set-piece allowed Sevilla to pull one back courtesy of Luuk de Jong. The second-half substitute was left uncovered at the far post and calmly finishing Óscar Rodríguez’s looping delivery.

Edin Terzić’s side returns to Signal Iduna Park for the second leg on March 9th.

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