UEFA Cup Final: FC Porto v. Celtic [R]

They've got one of these going on the Scotland boards, figured we should have one of our own.

So the sh!t goes down May 21 in Seville. Ladbrokes has Porto is the 4/6 favorite, Celtic as the 11/10 underdog, but as you can see those odds are virtually dead even.

I haven't seen anything to suggest this will be other than a close, exciting game with both teams playing bright, attacking football. Recent form doesn't tell much, though Porto stumbled to a draw last week against Academica while Celtic beat Rangers. Of some interest is that this is the first time the "Silver Goal" will be used in a major game--meaning the team leading after the first period of extra time wins:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/News/Kind=1/newsId=66400.html

I'd love to see Porto win, b/c I tend to support Portuguese soccer generally but I don't have a favorite team. I realize Sporting and Benfica fans are probably rooting for Celtic (much as Rangers fans are presumably rooting for Porto), but I think a win for Porto would be great overall for Portuguese soccer regardless of your loyalties. It would be, I believe, the first major international honor for a Portuguese club team since 1987 (Porto, European Championship).

I think Porto is the better team overall, though not by much, and they should win if they play to their ability. I've seen them let down a couple times throughout the UEFA Cup run, but this has almost invariably been in the second leg after they've sealed the result with a massive win in the first leg, so I don't think it's too much of a concern. What is a concern is the absence of Helder Postiga for his red-card in the second leg v. Lazio; he brings as much goalscoring threat and creativity up front as anyone--but fortunately we can fall back on Deco and Derlei. So I think Porto should take it, but it will be a close, hard-fought match. What does everyone else think?

 

It will be shown live on Fox Sports World, and I imagine RTPi might have it as well, or at least will show replays.

 

Celtic is dealing with some injuries of their own, most notably Hartson:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-hartson&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Still, sounds like we face more problems on this front, missing both Postiga and (looks like) Costinha, while the article above makes it sound like Celtic will probably be able to field a full team by next Wednesday.

 

Good news about Costinha. Postiga is suspended for this game b/c he got a red card in the second leg v. Lazio.

 

Porto 3:2 Celtic

This game rocked. End to end action, plenty of goals, and a great result. Things got a little messy there at the end, but the ten-minute period in which the teams traded goals twice was simply thrilling. Sadly, I had to leave from where I was watching and didn't see the final Derlei winner (which also put him in sole possession of the topscorer prize), but it's a great result. Porto looking great for the triple, and have a chance to win a rare "quadruple" if you add in the European Supercup between it and the winner of the UCL.

 

I dispute that, before the second Derlei goal, there was significant diving by Porto. From what I could see, Celtic was playing a substantially more physical game than Porto and, based on replays, most of the reactions seemed legit.

As for after the second Derlei goal, you're probably right that there was some overreaction as a form of time-wasting. Can't defend it, it's not something I like to see, but in fairness I don't see how a couple extra minutes would have made much difference to a tired Celtic team down one man.

Another point to consider is that it may just be a matter of cultural difference. Latin football* tends to be more theatrical--more diving, perhaps, but also more lively attacking play. The Brits can't be criticized for diving as much (though it's by no means unheard of) but as a result their stolid, stiff-upper-lip style of play tends to be less lively and to be fair, has its own share of frustrating, vaguely unsportsmanlike tactics (more back-passes, booting the ball out of play, and the like).

*With the peculiar exception of Italian calcio and the whole catenaccio tradition.

 

I won't say anything about whether either team on the pitch had more class, but it's obvious that complaining supporters like you who can't admit their team was deservedly beaten have no class at all.