With Porto back in the lead, they began to play more boldly, took more shots at the sporting CP team, and used their momentum to push the sporting CP team back.
The sporting CP team did not easily give in to the pressure from the Porto team and fought back as hard as they could, but it was clear the Porto team was pushing them back.
This continued for a while, and soon the end of the first half was rapidly approaching.
Porto had the momentum and they wanted to convert that momentum to a goal before the first half ended.
With an eye on the clock, they passed the ball around among themselves and soon the ball made its way to the edge of the sporting CP team’s penalty box.
The Porto players exchanged the ball among themselves while preventing the sporting CP players from getting a touch on the ball.
Otavio soon found a chance to send the ball forward, and he didn’t hesitate to do so.
The ball swept across the field towards the right where it was brought under control by Jesus Corona who quickly sent in a low cross.
With time running out, neither of the two teams wasted time and quickly ran up into the penalty box for the corner kick.
Otavio quickly took the corner and sent the ball flying into Sporting CP’s penalty box where the players of both teams jumped into the air to contest for the ball.
Sergio Oliveira from the Porto team was the one who managed to get his head to the ball first, but the ball had hardly flown at the Sporting team’s goal when it was blocked by a player and bounced back.
Mattheus Uribe happened to be inside the box but couldn’t jump for the ball but when the ball came his way he quickly reacted and sent the ball flying at the goal with a resounding thump.
The goalkeeper wasn’t able to react on time and by the time he could finally react the ball had already flown past him at a thunderous pace, smashing into the back of the net.
{A testament to their powers of recovery, a beautiful comeback goal just on the cusp of halfrtime}
{That has changed the dynamics of the game! Beautiful, beautiful goal!}
{Despite starting off on the wrong foot, it seems like things are finally going right for the Porto side} The commentator’s excited cheers rang through the microphone and were broadcasted to the viewers.
It served as the perfect accompaniment to the Porto team’s celebration and the Porto fans watching the match joined in on the celebration from their homes.
The Sporting CP team couldn’t understand what had happened and how they were suddenly pegged back especially when they were the ones who had opened up the game.
But there was no time for them to think and the game soon continued only for the first half to end a few minutes later.
The players of both teams quickly trudged to their locker rooms for a rest and a tactical meeting among themselves and their managers.
In the Porto locker room, the head manager did not waste much time on applauding his players but quickly went into the game plan for the coming half.
Despite them taking the lead, he knew that they could just as easily be pegged back once again, hinch was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Thus he gave the appropriate instructions to each player on every side of the pitch and once the fifteen minutes of rest was over he sent his players back out to the field.
The Sporting CP team had had a similar conversation, but they were more focused on how to bring out the best of their attacking side so that they could quickly get an equalizer and then focus on taking the lead once again.
With the fifteen minutes of rest over, the match once again resumed with both teams once again tearing at each other and vying for a victory over the other, but despite the presence of excitement at both ends of the pitch, the scoreboard remained the same.
It didn’t take long for the managers of the two teams to start making substitutions.
On the Porto side, Sergio Conceicao first took off Sergio Oliveira and put Mehdi Taremi on, while also taking off Zaidu Sanusi to bring on Chancel Mbemba.
With them having three center backs on the team, the Porto head manager thought that the team would be safer against attacks from the opponent, and the team transitioned into a 3-5-2 formation from their usual 4-4-2.
But despite the changes to the line-ups from both teams, time continued running out without either of them being able to make a difference to the scoreline and soon there were only about ten minutes left in the game.
Looking at his bench, Sergio Conceicao decided to go full defensive instead of attacking and trying to get an extra goal which could leave the team vulnerable.
With that thought in mind, he made one last change which was to bring on Diogo Leite for Wilson Manafa which led to his team having 4 center-backs on the pitch, however, their shape remained the same and instead the newest defender was given a free roaming duty to move to anywhere the ball was and shut down the opposition player while the other three CBs would stay in place.
For a while it worked, and then suddenly the Sporting CP team which despite making chances earlier had been unable to cause any waves suddenly pushed forward, overloading the Porto team’s half of the field and sweeping through them.
The ball moved quickly among the green and white shirted players while evading the Porto players and soon, they had arrived in front of the Porto pass.
Neto quickly evaded Diogo Leite and sent a pass to Vietto who took the shot with his first touch on the ball, sending it towards the bottom left corner of Porto’s goal.
Augustin Marchesin immediately dived after the ball, but he was unable to reach and could only watch as the ball rolled past his outstretched palm.