Porto Beat Napoli 4-1 for First Champions League Win as Veiga and Kiwior Strike Late

FC Porto beat Napoli 4-1 at the Estadio do Dragao on Wednesday night to win their first Champions League match of the season, scoring three times in the last 20 minutes against a Napoli side that finished with 10 men.

Porto strike first, McTominay answers

Jan Bednarek put Porto in front with a strong header that Napoli's marking never got close to. Napoli levelled when Scott McTominay pounced on a rebound, and the game stayed 1-1 deep into the second half even as Porto took control of it.

Porto pressed and pressed. Gabriel Veiga struck the crossbar from the edge of the box, Santiago Gimenez scuffed a good chance into the arms of Alex Meret, and Pepe sent a half volley wide. Napoli, who had made no substitutions well past the hour, began to look tired.

Three goals in 20 minutes finish it

The pressure told in the 71st minute. Veiga ran onto a Gimenez pass, went one on one with Meret and finished calmly to restore Porto's lead at 2-1.

Nine minutes later it was 3-1. Napoli left Jakub Kiwior completely free at a corner and the defender headed in Porto's third. It was the second time in the match that Napoli's defending on a set play had cost them a goal.

The night got worse for the visitors in the 88th minute. Samu broke away on the counter attack, Rafa Marin brought him down with no attempt to play the ball, and the referee showed the Napoli defender a straight red card. Samu took the penalty himself in the 90th minute, sent Meret the wrong way, and made it 4-1.

What it means

Porto, coached by Francesco Farioli, lead the Portuguese league but had lost all three of their opening matches in this Champions League league phase. This win gives them their first points of the campaign and keeps their hopes of a place in the knockout rounds alive.

Napoli had taken their first European points of the season in a 4-3 win over Bodo/Glimt, but they arrived in Porto off a 2-0 Serie A loss to Juventus at the weekend, and the problems that showed up in that defeat showed up again here: tired legs in midfield and loose marking at set pieces. The margin of the defeat also damages their goal difference, which can decide places in the league phase table.

In Wednesday's other late finals in the competition, Manchester City won 3-2 at RB Leipzig, Como won 9-1 at Lens, Arsenal won 2-1 at Slavia Prague, Borussia Dortmund beat Real Betis 2-1, Club Brugge won 2-1 at PSV Eindhoven, and Viking beat Sabah 4-1.