BATE Borisov footballers close home season of Champions League with defeat from Porto Portugal
In the first half of the game, the Belarusian champions played equally as well as the leaders of Group H, but failed to score. However, in the second half, the guests significantly improved their performance which influenced the result: in the 56th minute, Mexican Hector Herrera passed Sergey Chernik to score and, nine minutes later, Columbia’s Jackson Martinez scored a second goal. Despite their best efforts, the Belarusian champions failed to score. Porto pleased their fans again in the 89th minute by a late third goal from Cristian Tello.
This excellent result — 3:0, sent Porto to the top of Group H. The second ticket to the Champions League play-off was won by Shakhtar Donetsk, although it lost to Atletico Madrid in Lvov — 0:1.
Third place in the group is still to be decided in the sixth round matches (to be played on December 10th). This ticket will allow a team to go forward for the play-off of the second most important continental tournament, the Europa League. To finish in third place, BATE needs to defeat Atletico in Bilbao; on the other hand, the Spanish team only needs to end the match with a draw. Porto’s final round will be played against Shakhtar, at home.
