FC Porto won the Roller Hockey Champions League on Sunday. In Viana do Castelo, in a Portuguese final between neighbors (team pavilions are only 14 kilometers apart), the Dragons defeated Valongo (5-1) to capture the premier club competition. It is the third European trophy for the Porto players (1986 and 1990). It took 33 years and 12 finals to win the trophy again.
The blue and white team scored through Rafa (eight minutes), Carlo di Benedetto (18″ and 30″), Gonçalo Alves (21″, from a direct free kick) and Xavi Barroso (49″), while Miguel Moura (13″ ) scored the valonguenses’ try.
Finalist last season, in which the main European teams failed in the competition, Valongo was looking for his first European title, having reached the final, having knocked out Benfica (4-2) and Barcelona (4-3). The dragons were present in the final, after beating two other Portuguese teams: Sporting (3-2) in the quarter-finals and Oliveirense (6-4) in the semi-finals.
FC Porto equals Sporting and Voltregà with three trophies, still far from record holder Barcelona’s 22. “I started in 1962 as a manager of this modality. It is always a pleasure for me when a team wins a title, but hockey has a special meaning,” said Pinto da Costa, with attention to Eurico Pinto and the white-blue coach.
(updated)
Source: DN
