published: wednesday 15 december 2010, 22.55cet fc porto 3-1 pfc cska sofia
nicolás otamendi, rúben micael and james rodríguez scored for the hosts, though spas delev briefly levelled the scores.
fc porto ended their uefa europa league group l campaign on a high with a comfortable victory against pfc cska sofia.
the portuguese side remain unbeaten in eight games in the uefa europa league thanks to goals from nicolás otamendi, rúben micael and james rodríguez, although the sofia army men were temporarily level just after half-time through spas delev.
otamendi opened the scoring for the hosts in the 22nd minute with a low shot that went in off raïs m'bolhi's left-hand post following a scramble in the cska penalty box.
andré villas-boas's side almost doubled their lead through falcao, who turned fabrizio grillo on the edge of the box only for his powerful strike to be parried away by m'bolhi. the group stage's seven-goal top scorer was involved again moments later, this time laying the ball neatly into walter's path, but the brazilian's curling effort came back off the crossbar.
cska came out rejuvenated after the break and were level on 48 minutes when delev latched onto a long ball over the top to volley sweetly past helton into the bottom right-hand corner. porto soon regained the lead when james rodríguez's free-kick deflected off the wall and fell to micael, who lashed the ball home from close range.
falcao missed the chance to extend porto's lead from the penalty spot in the 57th minute having been brought down by pavel vidanov. the columbian striker's penalty was easily saved by m'bolhi low to his right.
james rodríguez's first goal for porto on his european debut made sure of victory in added time. joão moutinho's pass found the 19-year-old unmarked to slot past m'bolhi's outstretched left hand. porto were already guaranteed top spot in group l due to their superior head-to-head record against beşiktaş jk, while cska sofia failed to capitalise on sk rapid wien's defeat and finish bottom of the section.
