Porto beats Atlético 2-1 to win its Champions League group
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PORTO, Portugal (AP) — Porto defeated Atlético Madrid 2-1 on Wednesday to finish first in its Champions League group and keep Atlético from making it to the Europa League playoffs.
Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustáquio scored first-half goals for Porto, which took over first place in Group B after Club Brugge was held to a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in the other match. Porto finished with 12 points, one more than Brugge.
Atlético had already been eliminated and needed a win to secure third place and a spot in the Europa League playoffs. Instead, Leverkusen earned that berth because of a better head-to-head tiebreaker against Atlético, which finished last in a Champions League group for the first time.
It was also the first time since 2009 that Atlético has gone five matches without a win in the Champions League. At that time, it endured a nine-game winless streak that began in 2008.
Atlético’s usually stout defense looked soft early on and Porto took advantage.
Taremi opened the scoring from close range five minutes into the match for his 12th goal in all competitions this season, and Eustáquio added to the lead with a strike from near the penalty spot on a breakaway in the 24th.
Taremi has scored 12 goals in 17 appearances in all competitions this season. He had scored two goals in each of Porto’s last two Champions League matches.
France forward Antoine Griezmann thought he had pulled Atlético closer with a powerful shot into the top of the net in the 68th, but the goal was called off because of a foul by Atlético midfielder Rodrigo de Paul in the buildup.
Atlético scored with an own-goal by Iván Marcano in stoppage time.
Porto has reached the last 16 or better in seven of its last 10 Champions League appearances, four of them during coach Sérgio Conceição’s reign.
It is only the second time in 10 seasons that Atlético failed to advance from the group stage, and first since 2017-18. It won the Europa League the last two times it didn’t advance in the Champions League — in 2018 and 2010.
Atlético coach Diego Simeone started with João Félix playing alongside Griezmann up front as regular starter Álvaro Morata recovered from an injury. It was Félix’s first start in nine matches.
Porto was still without veteran central defender Pepe because of a knee injury.
Griezmann had scored a late winner to give Atlético a 2-1 win in the teams’ first meeting. Since then, Atlético lost at Leverkusen and at Brugge before being held to draws at home by those same clubs. Simeone’s team had a late chance to beat Leverkusen in the previous round but Yannick Carrasco missed a penalty kick awarded by video review deep into stoppage time.
Porto was coming off a 4-0 win at Brugge and a 3-0 victory at Leverkusen. It had also beaten Leverkusen at home after a 4-0 loss against Club Brugge at its Dragão Stadium.
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Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix heads the ball during a Champions League group B soccer match between FC Porto and Atletico Madrid at the Dragao stadium in Porto, Portugal, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Luis Vieira)
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