Porto beat Zagreb for second win of the season

GROUP A

FC Porto (POR) vs HC PPD Zagreb (CRO) 28:26 (12:11)

• Zagreb led by four early in the first half, but Porto came to the break ahead. Three goals by Mamadou Diocou and a late one by Rui Silva put them on top
• the visitors never managed to take back their early momentum as Nikola Mitrevski piled saves between Porto’s posts to help his team increase their lead
• three straight goals by Pedro Veitia Valdés gave Porto their first three-goal advantage of the evening, 16 minutes before the final whistle
• despite being up by four with nine minutes to go, Porto remained under pressure as Aleks Kavcic made the score even at the 57th minute
• Timur Dibirov netted 10 times for Zagreb while Valdés scored six for Porto
• Porto now have five points but remain last in the group while Zagreb are sixth, with eight points

Porto without pressure but with composure

Before Sunday’s game it was unclear whether Porto would just go through the motions after being eliminated last week. Anyone with that fear may have felt it justified after the first 10 minutes, but then things evolved, and in the right way.

The Porto defence soon found its rhythm, only conceding four goals in nearly 20 minutes, as winter recruit Mamadou Diocou piled up strikes. Porto put all the right ingredients in the game to beat Zagreb and to prevent them from qualifying – and they have every chance of doing the same to Orlen Wisla Plock on Thursday. Another win for Porto, ironically, would mean Zagreb’s place in the next round would be safe after all.