voldemort

Schalke beat 10-man Porto 4-1 on penalties to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time after drawing 1-1 on aggregate on Wednesday. An 86th minute Lisandro Lopez strike cancelled out Kevin Kuranyi's first-leg goal while the Germans had young goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to thank for knocking out the former champions.
The 21-year-old saved two spot kicks in the shootout after making a series of impressive stops during the match, including twice keeping out point blank headers from Porto's Moroccan forward Tarik Sektioui either side of halftime.
The home side, who were lucky not to have goalkeeper Helton sent off when he handled a goal-bound effort outside his area in the second half, were reduced to 10 men when defender Fucile was shown a straight red card for an 82nd minute foul.
Porto put the visiting defence under pressure almost from the start. Argentine striker Lopez was denied by Neuer after 12 minutes before the goalkeeper made the first of his outstanding close range stops from Sektioui a minute later.
Schalke, who have failed to win any of their last four Bundesliga games, had their first attempt after 27 minutes when defender Heiko Westermann shot wide from distance.
Ten minutes later winger Ricardo Quaresma's shot was parried by Neuer and then cleared by a defender.
Early in the second half Porto, who have lost only one of their last 19 Champions League home games, had their best chance so far when the outstretched left leg of Neuer somehow kept out another effort by the unmarked Sektioui.
The home side's challenge began to fade and became more difficult when referee Howard Webb harshly showed Fucile a red card for a foul on Halil Altintop eight minutes from time.
However, Lopez broke the deadlock four minutes later, collecting a neat pass from compatriot Lucho Gonzalez, before spinning defender Mladen Krstajic and firing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.
In extra time, Quaresma missed a clear chance to put Porto ahead in the tie for the first time when he was through on goal but again Neuer cleared the ball for a corner.
Porto dominated the last few minutes but were unable to stop the match going to penalties in which Neuer clinched Schalke's quarter-final place by saving from Bruno Alves and Lopez.



Source:soccernet.com