FC Porto Vs. Benfica, 2011 O Classico: Full Time, Sloppy But Entertaining Game Ends 2-2

FC Porto and Benfica are a couple of teams capable of playing beautiful, attractive football, but derbies rarely work out like that. Even Real Madrid and Barcelona end up hacking and play acting when they face off, and this edition of O Classico was no different than the most intense derbies in the world. There wasn’t a lot of great passing and there was a whole lot of dirty play, but both teams were still entertaining in a 2-2 draw.

Porto went into halftime up 1-0, thanks to a header by Kleber on a Fredy Guarin free kick. The hosts had a couple of earlier chances through Hulk and Jorge Fucile, but were denied by a couple of fantastic saves by Artur.

Oscar Cardozo scored an equalizer for Benfica just 90 seconds into the second half, despite his team producing just one shot in the first half. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals as Porto fell asleep, then scrambled to try to clear a loose ball in the box, but Cardozo eventually fought through the Porto defenders and slid the ball under Helton to tie up the match.

Porto took the lead back relatively quickly through a well-worked set piece. On a short corner, Nicolas Otamendi got on the end of a low cross and poked the ball into the back of the net to restore Porto’s lead.

Benfica would get the last laugh, though, scoring a brilliant equalizer. Substitute striker Javier Saviola provided the assist, playing an unbelievable blind through ball towards Nicolas Gaitan, who beat his marker with pace and finished off a fantastic equalizer.

Porto were the far superior team in the first half and probably deserved more than their one goal from that 45 minute period, but Jorge Jesus made some excellent changes and Benfica fought back admirably in the second half. Obviously, no one’s ever really happy with a draw in a derby, but Benfica won’t be too disappointed with a draw at the Dragao.