Ferran Torres rose up to the occasion to help 10-man Barcelona beat FC Porto in a cagey affair at the Estadio de Dragao in Portugal in their match day 2 of the UEFA Champions League group stage played on Wednesday. 

FC Barcelona won their first game in a 5:0 win over Royal Antwerp in Spain and went into the game on an impressive form that has seen them fail to win only twice this season after a goalless draw against Getafe in their opening La Liga fixture and 2-2 draw against Mallorca last midweek.

Weekend’s home game against Sevilla in La Liga ended in a 1-0 victory for Xavi’s men, but if the 1-0 victory against Sevilla was difficult, then Wednesday’s fixture in Portugal was even more than that as they had to deal with a tough defense who could also attack with intent.

The Spaniards were also not entirely dominant, so the team ended the game with eight yellow cards and a red card for Gavi in the 90th minute.

However, Barcelona had scored the winner way before then after Fernando Torres scored from an Ilkay Gundogan assist in first-half stoppage time. Both teams handled the ball in the box, but the referee did not deem it fit for a penalty, which eventually means that the game ended in a 1-0 scoreline in favor of Barcelona.

Meanwhile, the result is a second consecutive loss for FC Porto, who lost 1-0 to Benfica in the Portuguese league at the weekend. Porto will be at home to Portimonense in the Portuguese league at the weekend, while Barcelona will travel to Granada.

Barcelona sits at the top of their Champions League group with six points from two games, scoring six goals and keeping a clean sheet in both matches; FC Porto follows in second with three points after their victory in their first UEFA Champions League group-stage match of the season against Shakhtar Donestk.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu