Pereira targets away points after ´difficult´ draw

Porto coach Vitor Pereira wants his team to make up for their 1-1 draw with APOEL Nicosia when they travel to Cyprus.

The Liga Sagres champions had Hulk’s 13th-minute strike cancelled out by Ailton Jose Almeida at the Estadio do Dragao in the Champions League clash on Wednesday.

Porto will travel to Cyprus for the return match on November 1, and Pereira said he wanted his team to collect three points away from home.

“We didn’t produce a good display because we didn’t play as a team. We wanted to do everything too quickly and without any patience in our passing,” he said after the draw.

“APOEL are a difficult side to play against with dangerous players. They defend very well and don’t give you much space.”

“The group is wide open and we have to go and win in Cyprus to make up for this result. We have not had good results which bring confidence.”

Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg drew 2-2 in the other game, leaving Group G wide open.

APOEL Nicosia are top with five points, followed by Zenit and Porto – both on four – while Shakhtar are bottom with two.

APOEL boss Ivan Jovanovic was delighted with his team’s performance away from home.

“This is very important for us if you consider that we have taken a point away at Porto. We were excellent and very well organised,” he said.

“Even though Porto kept possession as we expected, we were dangerous on the counter-attack. We also had good chances to score.”

“We were a little disappointed not to steal it at the end but I am still delighted with my players because they worked hard.”