Football
ESPN staff 9y

Lopetegui hails Porto's crushing Champions League win over Basel

Porto manager Julen Lopetegui has praised his side's ambition after they defeated FC Basel 4-0 in Tuesday's Champions League second leg round of 16 clash. Porto progressed to the quarterfinals after having drawn away 1-1 in the first leg on Feb. 18.

"It is not easy to do what we have done tonight," Lopetegui said in his post-match news conference. "Basel had a great campaign, so this was never going to be easy. This group has a lot of ambition, they deserve this success, we are delighted."

Porto had an easy game but their major cause of concern was the injury suffered by stand-in captain and defender Danilo in the first half. Porto goalkeeper Fabiano ran forward to intercept a through-ball and in the process his shoulder smashed into the Danilo's face -- knocking the Brazil born defender unconscious.

"Danilo recovered consciousness on his way to hospital and appears to be okay," said Lopetegui. "This victory is also for him. We worked to win tonight, attacked well, defended well against a very good team, so it's a day to be very proud."

Basel coach Paolo Sousa attributed the loss to Porto's pressing which prevented his team from playing their short passing game. "We were unable to execute a short passing game due to Porto's efficient pressing," said Sousa.

"Porto have a lot of quality. We could have scored a goal at the end of the first period, but we couldn't and they were better. We now need to end this season well so that we can be in the Champions League next year."

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