UEL: Porto victorious at Besiktas, Rapid Wien keep hope alive

(GSM) – Portuguese giants Porto earned their third consecutive win in Europa League Group L while Rapid Wien kept hope alive with a victory at CSKA Sofia.

Besiktas and Porto both won their previous two games in this group, and both knew that another win would leave them very close to the next round.

Colombian Radamel Falcao put Porto ahead after 26 minutes in Istanbul, and Hulk added two more goals in the 59th and 78th minutes to hand the visitors a much more comfortable lead.

By this time, Porto were already a man down as Maicon was sent off in the 43rd minute. Fernando followed late on. Besiktas then pulled one back through Bobo in the final minute but it was too little, too late.

Rapid Wien got their first points in an away match at CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria. The Austrians scored the opener through Dutchman Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the 28th minute and Steffen Hofmann added another four minutes later.

Porto lead Group L with nine points, three points more than Besiktas. Rapid Wien are in third place with three points and CSKA, without points, remain at the bottom.