Porto and Braga to meet in Portuguese Europa League final in Dublin

Posted Friday, May 06, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Porto beat Villarreal 7-4 on aggregate
• Braga beat Benfica on away-goal rule

Porto and Braga to meet in Portuguese Europa League final in Dublin
Porto's players celebrate their Europa League semi-final victory over Villarreal.

Porto booked a place in the Europa League final in Dublin against Braga, despite a valiant effort by Villarreal at El Madrigal. Goals by Cani, Joan Capdevila and Giuseppe Rossi gave the Spanish side a 3-2 victory; Falcao and Hulk scored for Porto, who held a 5-1 lead from the first leg. Falcao's goal saw him set a new Uefa Cup goalscoring record in a season, with 16.

Villarreal had to make a good start and they played at a ferocious tempo. Nilmar whipped in a second-minute cross from the right, forcing the Porto goalkeeper, Helton, to come off his line and punch away. Although Cristian Rodríguez went close for Porto, Marco Ruben helped to give Villarreal a potential lifeline, beating the offside trap and putting the ball across to Cani, who slotted the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.

However, any hopes the Spanish side had raised evaporated when Porto equalised. Hulk went to shoot from 25 yards and, although his shot was on target, it hit Mateo Musacchio and looped over the helpless goalkeeper, Diego López. Hulk could have extended Porto's lead in first-half injury time but López saved his shot with his legs.

It was all over two minutes after half-time when Falcao hit his 16th goal of this year's Europa League season, trapping and slotting home Fredy Guarín's pass from the left. Capdevila took advantage of poor Porto defending when he collected a cross at the far post, brought the ball down and volleyed home with a quarter of an hour left. Three minutes later Villarreal were awarded a penalty, when Nicolas Otamendi brought down Ruben, and Rossi scored.

From the other semi-final Braga went through to their first European final when they beat Benfica 1-0 to go through on away goals. Custódio Castro's first-half goal levelled the game at 2-2 on aggregate. Braga have beaten Liverpool, Arsenal, Celtic and Seville in a season that started in the Champions League.