Porto have made it to the UEFA Champions League group stages for the 6 successive season after claiming a convincing 4-1 aggregate victory over As.Roma.
The first leg resulted with a final scoreboard of 1-1 and everything had to be settled in the home turf of As.Roma at the StadioOlimpico which finished with Porto coming out on top with triumph.
As.Roma had the upper hand in terms of possession and control of the match as the Italian club had 55% of possession and they even launched more shots than what Porto could muster but it was Porto the team that made the most from the limited amount of time that they had with the ball under their domination.
During this match, the team of Luciano Spalletti had 2 players being sent off from the match as Daniele de Rossi received a red card at the 39th minute and Emerson Palmieri also got a red card but this time in the 2nd half of the game.
These 2 red cards clearly affected the game-plan of As.Roma as the Italian club had to play with only 9 players in the pitch and having to perform with such a limited amount of players, it allowed Porto to have more freedom on the playing grounds and the visiting team scored 2 goals in the 73rd and 75th minute which basically secured the triumph for Porto.
When the match was over the head coach of As.Roma, Luciano Spalletti talked about the defeat of his team and he was visibly concerned about the red cards that some of his players have been picking up.
"The three red cards were naïve, because finishing the games with 11 men was our characteristic last season. We never gave the referee the chance to send us off. Now it's happening a lot and I can't understand why, as we could've been a lot calmer."As.Roma’s Luciano Spalletti said.
This result means that As.Roma will not be able to get into the group stages of the Champions League in the next edition of the European competition while Porto has managed to do it for the 6th successive year.