Atletico scrape into Europa

Hulk: Bagged a third

Related links

Teams

• Atletico Madrid

Also see

• Primera Liga fixtures
• Primera Liga table
• Primera Liga stats
• Revista de la Liga
• Revista Xtra podcasts

Atletico Madrid booked a place in the Europa League after finishing third in Group D, despite suffering a 3-0 defeat at home to a slick Porto side.

Apoel Nicosia's 2-2 draw with Chelsea ensured they finished level on points with Atletico, who qualify based on their head-to-head record with the Cypriots.

Porto took an early lead through Bruno Alves, who nodded home unchallenged after two minutes.

Falcao doubled the lead, capitalising on an error from Sergio Asenjo, and Hulk rounded off a fine win with a thunderous third.

Lively

Atletico went into the match looking to secure a place in the Europa League, and with back-to-back wins in the La Liga, fancied their chances against a Porto side with nothing to play for.

The visitors, meanwhile, could not catch group leaders Chelsea but made a lively start and they took the lead without the home side touching the ball after just two minutes, Alves rising highest to nod home Raul Meireles' corner.

Madrid looked shocked and they nearly fell further behind when Asenjo denied Diego Valeri as the shot-stopper dived low to his left to save.

The home side looked to respond and Diego Forlan brought a good save from Brazilian keeper Helton and strike partner Aguero saw a shot blocked.

Sergio Aguero - subject to much transfer speculation prior to the match - thought he had won a penalty after tumbling under Roque Maicon's challenge in the area, only to see his appeals turned away.

The striker was at the heart of everything the home side offered, and the Argentinean tried his luck with a spectacular overhead kick that flashed just wide of the post.

But the first half belonged to Porto and they went into the break two goals to the good thanks to Falcao, who pounced on Asenjo's fumble to double their lead.

The home side were dealt a further blow just a minute into the second half when Aguero limped off with an injury.

And with Florent Sinama Pongolle out injured, Quique Sánchez Flores' men lacked the creativity needed to unlock a shrewd Porto backline.

Not even a boisterous following in the Vicente Calderon could inspire Atletico as the Portuguese side comfortably defended their lead.

The Madrid side were resorting to set-pieces and unfamiliar high-balls into the box, which were easily mopped up by the visiting defence.

Porto remained a threat on the break and they hit a third goal with 15 minutes remaining to pile more misery on Madrid, powerful striker Hulk teasing the defence before rattling a left-foot shot into the top-corner.

A Europa League spot even looked out of touch at some points during the match as news filtered through of Apoel's draw against Chelsea.

But despite picking up just three points and scoring three goals during the group phase, Atletico scraped into the Europa League.