WHAT HAPPENED
We kicked off our Premier League International Cup campaign with a win against last year’s winners Porto, courtesy of a Reiss Nelson goal.
The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges, pressing well, but both sides struggled to create chances early on.
Chuba Akpom threatened to spark the game into life 20 minutes in, when he brought the ball down close to goal and spun his marker, only to shoot into the side netting.
Shortly before the half-hour mark, Porto’s Federico Varela stung the palms of Deyan Iliev, who very nearly spilled the effort into his own net.
Soon after, Luiz Palhares latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and blasted a shot at goal, which squirmed narrowly wide.
A few minutes later, Nelson burst past his man and called Diogo Costa into action to block a drilled effort at the near post.
Following the break, Nelson took the initiative and broke the deadlock, curling the ball into the top corner out of Diogo Costa’s reach.
Looking to strike back in quick fashion, Varela cannoned a dipping effort off the crossbar, very nearly bringing the visitors level.
Keen to add a second, Nelson very nearly doubled our lead when he burst past the Porto defenders, but his effort was too tame for Costa this time.
WHAT IT MEANS
Victory puts us top of our group, ahead of Porto, Reading and Bayern Munich.
WHAT’S NEXT
We travel Swansea in the Premier League 2, hoping to get back to winning ways after failing to pick up three points in either of our last two games.
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