Porto boss Paulo Fonseca has admitted that Atletico deserved to win Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League clash between the two sides.
Jackson Martinez had given the Portuguese champions a half-time lead at the Estadio Dragao, but goals after the break from Diego Godin and Arda Turan snatched the points for Diego Simeone’s side.
Atletico have won each of their nine games in La Liga and Europe so far this season and Fonseca, while disappointed to lose, did not blame his players’ performance.
“We did not face just any old team,” he said.
“We played against a tough opponent, which is at the top of Spanish league, a team that have not been defeated by Barcelona and that beat Real Madrid in their last game, so it’s not just any team.
“We had a great first half. As we had the advantage before the break, it made Atletico change their approach in the second half, which limited us in attacking terms.
“I think Atletico deserved the victory more than we deserved to lose.”
Despite the loss, Porto remain second in the group after Zenit and Austria Vienna laboured to a 0-0 draw in Russia on Tuesday and Fonseca remains confident in his team’s ability to progress.
He added: “Porto go into in every game and every stadium aiming to win. This is always the case, regardless of whether we are playing at home or away.
“We always want to win. We are in second place in the group after this result. We had the opportunity to watch Zenit and Austria Vienna and we saw that everything is still very open.
“It will be important to win more games, but home or away, Porto always want to win.”
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