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Brazilians put Porto past Panathinaikos Posted: Tuesday March 12, 2002 4:53 PMUpdated: Tuesday March 12, 2002 7:42 PM PORTO, Portugal (AP) -- Porto beat Panathinaikos 2-1 Tuesday on goals by Brazilians Deco and Pena to keep alive its slim hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The Portuguese side's first win in group C lifted it onto four points while the Greek club stayed on seven points. Deco's goal after 10 minutes came from a break down the left flank by Clayton Cruz who crossed for Nuno Capucho to pull the ball back into the path of the Brazilian midfielder who scored with a blistering shot. Cruz and Capucho linked up again in the 55th minute to provide Pena with his first goal in four months. Substitute Joonas Kolkka pulled one back 10 minutes later, firing home a loose ball from outside the Porto penalty area. Porto defender Carlos Secretario was sent off for a professional foul on Emmanuel Olisadebe 15 minutes from the end during a late fightback by the Greeks when Goran Vlaovic hit the woodwork from a free-kick. Porto, which had failed to score in five of its previous 10 games in the competition, dominated the midfield for most of the game. Two injuries before the interval disrupted the visitor's tactics. Michalis Konstantinou, the side's top scorer, was replaced by Olisadebe, and Kolkka came on for Croatian Robert Jarni. Panathinaikos, making its 100th appearance in European soccer's premier club competition, pressured in the final minutes but ran out of time. "It doesn't just depend on us, but it is good to go into the final game with some possibilities to qualify and to play against the best European sides," Porto coach Jose Mourinho said after the game. Mourinho praised his side's fighting performance and return to form after the weekend defeat hit their title chances hard. "The players were bold, they worked hard, made every effort, and were dedicated," he said. "But with a goal from our opponents and Secretario's sending off, the only thing the players could do was give a fantastic response which proves what they can do with attitude and dedication." Panathinaikos coach Sergio Markarian said his side had deserved a draw and would go all out to take three points next week from Real Madrid. "We had bad luck in the first half when we could have equalized but instead lost two players," Markarian said. "We missed some great chances. We were a little worse in the first half but we did well in the second. We did a good job and I am pleased with the players." "Now we want to beat Real Madrid to be part of the eight best teams in Europe." SummaryPorto 2 Panathinaikos 1 - result Champions League second stage, group C Scorers: Porto: Deco Sousa 12, Jesus Pena 54 Panathinaikos: Joonas Kolkka 65 Red card: Carlos Secretario (Porto) 78 Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 6,000 Teams: Porto: 1-Paulo Santos; 7-Carlos Secretario, 33-Ricardo Silva, 13-Jorge Andrade, 14-Fredrick Soderstrom, 5-Carlos Paredes, 6-Francisco Costinha, 10-Deco Sousa (41-Helder postiga 89), 21-Nuno Capucho, 31-Jesus Pena (8-Miran Pavlin 83), 28-Clayton Cruz (25-Candido Costa 67). Panathinaikos: 1-Antonis Nikopolidis; 2-Rene Henriksen, 14-Leonidas Vokolos (7-Goran Vlaovic 70), 16-Sotiris Kyrgiakos, 30-Takis Fyssas, 15-Daniel Saric, 20-Angelos Basinas, 26-Giorgos Karagounis, 27-Robert Jarni (11-Joonas Kolkka 35), 19-Michalis Konstantinou (23-Emmanuel Olisadebe 30), 21-Nikos Liberopoulos. Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
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