Uefa Cup holders Porto became the first Portuguese side for 14 years to make the final of Europe’s top club competition after beating Deportivo la Coruna 1-0 in their Champions League semifinal second leg on Tuesday.
The Portuguese champions — winners of the 1987 European Cup — go through to the final, which will be held in the German city of Gelsenkirchen on May 26, by the same aggregate score after a 0-0 draw in the first leg two weeks ago.
Brazilian striker Derlei got the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on the hour mark after Deportivo defender Cesar Martin had brought down Portuguese international Deco.
Derlei’s shot just squeezed between the post and the fingers of Deportivo goalkeeper Francisco Molina.
Derlei was understandably ecstatic afterwards, having just returned from a four-month absence because of injury.
”With a return like this, I believe this is the best moment of my career,” said Derlei, who was man of the match in the Uefa Cup final victory over Celtic last year.
”This is the best way to thank my teammates for all their support while I was injured.”
Teammate Costinha, who got the decisive goal in the away leg against Manchester United, said that coach Jose Mourinho had told them to keep calm.
”He said it was the biggest match of our lives but that even if we went a goal down we still only needed an away goal to go through,” he said. ”We followed those instructions perfectly.”
Costinha expressed his wish that he play his former French side Monaco in the final — they lead Chelsea 3-1 going into Wednesday’s second leg in London.
”They are the team of my heart because they gave me my big break in football,” said the Portuguese international, who won the 2000 French league title with Monaco.
”I would dearly love them to get to the final and then it will be a match involving my two favourite teams,” he added.
Derlei only returned to the Porto squad over a week ago, but Mourinho had enough faith in his goalscoring skills to start him ahead of South African striker Benni McCarthy.
The Spanish side launched everything into attack after the Porto goal and Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani went close shortly afterwards with a header.
However, Deportivo’s chances of finding the two goals they needed to rescue the tie declined even further in the 69th minute when veteran Moroccan international Nourredine Naybet was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Clever play was at a premium on a wet night, with the wind also blowing in off the Atlantic.
Players frequently slipped and skidded on the greasy Riazor surface.
Deportivo had the best of the first 45 minutes.
Midway through the first period, Pandiani sent a volley high and wide from Juan Carlos Valeron cross, with only Porto ‘keeper Vitor Baia in front of him.
Valeron then did the same 13 minutes later after service provided by fellow Spanish international Albert Luque.
The Portuguese visitors, who had travelled just 275km across the border, were the tidier side in their passing but rarely looked like breaking down the well-organised Deportivo defence until Derlei broke the deadlock.
Fortune was definitely smiling on Mourinho on Tuesday night as the seven players in danger of being suspended if they picked up a yellow card all came through without a caution.
Only Carlos Alberto and Pedro Mendes were booked although Deportivo fans made it vocally known that referee Pierluigi Collina was rather lenient, especially in the final 20 minutes when Porto sat back and defended doggedly.
Nuno Valente was fortunate not to be penalised for a penalty and sent off when he blatantly elbowed a Coruna player — but Collina failed to see it. — Sapa-AFP