Football United

European champions FC Porto began the new season just as they had ended the old one by collecting yet another piece of silverware, this time the Portuguese Super Cup following a 1-0 win over SL Benfica in Coimbra last night.

Baía milestone
A debut goal from Ricardo Quaresma at the start of the second half secured the victory for the SuperLiga winners, avenging their defeat by Benfica in last May's Portuguese Cup final. For Porto's captain Vitor Baía, it was the 26th title of his career, taking him past Paolo Maldini and Frank Rijkaard as the player with the most winner's medals to his name in European football history.

Unfamiliar lineup
Porto fielded an unfamiliar-looking lineup for what was Spanish coach Victor Fernández's first official match in charge. Due to the absences of suspended skipper Jorge Costa and Pepe, the Dragons played with a central defence of Pedro Emanuel and Ricardo Costa, the latter having returned from Olympic duty just 24 hours earlier.

César Peixoto goes close
With Maniche suspended, Hugo Leal and Brazilian teenager Diego took the central midfield roles. However, Diego lasted just 20 minutes before making way for César Peixoto, having been hurt in a challenge by his former Santos FC team-mate Paulo Almeida. The substitute provided Porto's two best efforts of the first half. On 29 minutes César Peixoto fired in a low cross-shot which was smothered by Quim, and two minutes later flashed the ball wide from a similar angle.

Benfica on top
Instead it was Benfica who had the better of the first period, finding some fluency despite the heavily sanded pitch. Coach Giovanni Trapattoni had made two changes from the team which defeated RSC Anderlecht 1-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie, replacing Ricardo Rocha with Luisão at centre-back, and French goalkeeper Yannick Quesnel with Quim. Save for that stop from César Peixoto, Quim had little to do as Benfica dominated.

Zahovic threat
Zlatko Zahovic threatened with a shot which deflected off Pedro Emanuel and went narrowly over the crossbar. Moments later, on the half-hour, right-back Miguel played a one-two with the Slovenian playmaker but, with Tomo Šokota waiting in front of goal, Miguel opted to shoot himself and fired into the side-netting.

Bottom corner
Porto owed their victory to Quaresma, the former FC Barcelona winger finding the bottom corner with a low shot from the left side of the area after 55 minutes. Benfica now had to chase the game. Two Petit free-kicks brought headed opportunities for Šokota and Luisão, but both directed the ball over the bar.

Next assignments
So Porto can travel to Monaco for next Friday's UEFA Super Cup against Valencia CF with 90 minutes' competitive action - not to mention a victory and another trophy - under their belts. For Benfica, meanwhile, the next assignment is Tuesday's return leg against Anderlecht in Brussels.

FC PORTO: Vítor Baía, Seitaridis, Ricardo Costa, Pedro Emanuel, Nuno Valente, Costinha, Hugo Leal, Diego (César Peixoto, 22), Ricardo Quaresma (Bosingwa, 61), Carlos Alberto e McCarthy (Hélder Postiga, 77).

BENFICA: Quim, Miguel, Luisão, Argel, Dos Santos, Paulo Almeida (Bruno Aguiar, 66), Petit, João Pereira (Everson, 85), Zahovic (Karadas, 60), Simão e Sokota.

Goal: Quaresma 56´

Source: Uefa.com, abola.pt