Artmedia win away against Porto

Bratislava Artmedia have pulled off another European sensation. On Wednesday evening playing in the group phase of the European Champions League, they beat the Portuguese team FC Porto on their own ground 3:2, after earlier being 2:0 down. Artmedia's shock victory earned the team three points and a financial reward of 320,000 Euros. The Slovak champion began the game employing similar tactics to the ones used against Inter Milan in their first group-stage match (which they lost 0:1), trying to break out of defence. However, after 39 minutes they found themselves two goals down, and would have gone 3:0 behind shortly after but for a reflex save by Artmedia goalkeeper Cobej.

However, the team sensationally managed to turn the game around. First they managed to reduce the deficit just before half-time, when Petras struck a low drive past the Porto keeper. In the second half, Artmedia manager Vladimir Weiss made changes to produce a more attacking formation. However, Porto were still pressing when in the 54th minute Halenar sent a long ball forward which Kozak latched on to before coolly rounding the keeping and putting Artmedia level. Then, in the 74th minute, Kozak sent a free kick into the box for Borbely to finish from close range - 3:2 to the Bratislava team. Sensibly, Artmedia then kept the game tight to hold on until full time.

Artmedia is the first ever Slovak team to win a match in the group stage of the Champions League. The team qualified for the group stage with a shock two-leg 5:4 aggregate victory over the famous Glasgow team Celtic. Apart from Porto, their opponents in Group H are Celtic's great local rival Rangers and Inter Milan