Porto, March 10 (BNA): Lyon thanked Lucas Paqueta and the VAR after beating Porto 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 of the European League.
Paqueta rammed his head against Porto defender Pepe in the first minute of the match, but even with blood seeping through his bandages, the Brazilian playmaker stayed on the field to pull the strings in midfield.
Pepe did not come back in the second half but Paqueta opened the scoring just before the hour mark when he drove the ball into the bottom corner and the VAR ruled out an offside call in overtime.
The referee awarded Porto a penalty for Paqueta’s handball minutes later but then changed his mind after taking a second look at the VAR screen. The handball was cross after the ball bounced off the midfielder’s knee before hitting his arm.
Also, Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopez saved well near the end of the half to deny Porto, who are leading the Portuguese league and undefeated this season, after scoring in every home game so far.
And Chancel Mbemba seemed to have saved Porto’s equalizer in stoppage time when they finally beat Lopez to score the equalizer, but the VAR intervened again to rule it for offside.
In Wednesday’s other kick-off, Eintracht Frankfurt will return with one goal to Germany after beating Spain’s Real Betis 2-1, with all three goals arriving in the first half.
Philip Koçek gave Frankfurt the lead with a curling shot that passed over the goalkeeper and fell under the crossbar before Nabil Fekir equalized after half an hour, scoring his 10th goal of the season in all competitions.
Daichi Kamada regained the lead for Frankfurt after two minutes with a superb finish in an open net after good work by midfielder Jesper Lindstrom, who sped inside the penalty area to pull the goalkeeper and defender before introducing the opponent.
Frankfurt almost scored another goal in the second half, but Betis goalkeeper Claudio Bravo prevented Rafael Buri from a penalty kick.
The return leg for both matches will be played on March 17th.