Francisco Moura’s second-half goal secured a 1-1 draw for Porto against 10-man AS Roma in the first leg of their Europa League knockout round playoff on Thursday.
Zeki Celik scored for Roma in the final moments of the first half by tapping in a loose ball from the six-yard box.
Moura scored the equaliser when his shot deflected off a defender and past goalkeeper Mile Svilar in the 67th minute.
Claudio Ranieri’s Roma suffered another setback five minutes later when they were reduced to 10 men as Bryan Cristante received a second yellow card.
The visitors, who had already lost forward Paulo Dybala through injury before halftime, withstood Porto’s late pressure, as the Portuguese tried to capitalise on their man advantage but saw Goncalo Borges and Danny Namaso missing the target.
Roma manager Claudio Ranieri was unhappy with the referee in their match against Porto and here are his sentiments.
“I think the referee was waiting for the opportunity to give Porto a penalty. I told the boys ‘don’t protest or he’ll caution you’. I am addressing Rosetti (UEFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer): the whole world knows that you are a person of integrity and honesty. How can you send to Porto a referee who, out of 21 matches he has refereed, has drawn 9 times in the away team and won all the others in the home team’s games?” lamented Ranieri
Two-time Europa League finalists Roma will be looking to beat Porto for the first time in four European ties.
Winners will face either Athletic Bilbao or Roma’s arch-rivals Lazio.
