Otavio would trade goal for Porto victory as he bemoans Schalke draw

Porto’s Otavio was left frustrated after the Portuguese giants were held to a 1-1 draw by Schalke in their opening Champions League match.

Otavio scored from the spot with 15 minutes remaining in Tuesday’s Group D clash at Veltins-Arena, cancelling out Breel Embolo’s early effort.

Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann was on top form throughout, pulling off a superb penalty save in the first half before denying Felipe from close range after the interval.

Fahrmann also kept out a stinging strike from Otavio late on, and the winger said he would not think twice about giving up his goal – his first in the Champions League – it meant Porto had claimed the win.

“I would trade my goal for a victory. We deserved victory. We fought for it,” the 23-year-old said.

“It’s not bad, the draw away from home, but now we have other important games and we go in search of the three points.”

75′ GOLO! / GOAL! / ¡GOL!
Schalke 04 1-1 FC Porto#FCPorto #S04FCP #UCL pic.twitter.com/HkYNdAbK2A

— FC Porto (@FCPorto) September 18, 2018

Porto sit fourth in the fledgling Primeira Liga table, and face Vitoria Setubal and Tondela before switching their attention back to the Champions League when they host Galatasaray.

And despite Porto’s indifferent start to the season on all fronts, head coach Sergio Conceicao – who guided them to their first league title since 2012-13 last term – was buoyed by his side’s dominant display in Germany.

“This is the Champions League and all games are very competitive and difficult to play,” he said.

“We knew about the dynamics of the opponent and we started the game well. Schalke has two shots at goal and one of them is the goal.

“We were always superior to Schalke. It wasn’t a brilliant game, but we were consistent. We could have won. Not losing is positive. I am completely optimistic about Porto’s near future.”

Schalke, meanwhile, went into the fixture on the back of three successive defeats in the Bundesliga, but coach Domenico Tedesco remained upbeat.

“We took the first step in the right direction in Gladbach and today we took the second,” Todesco told a press conference. “The important thing is that we’re taking these steps.”