Thursday saw one of the most dominant performances of the 2023-24 Champions League season wherein Porto crushed Royal Antwerp 4-1 courtesy of Evanilson’s quick hat-trick that completely decimated the opponents to pick up a crucial victory in their Group H fixture.
Antwerp had a solid start to the game as they got the opening goal of the match 37th minute when Alhassan Yusuf swept home a shot from the edge of the box. The side’s performance was dominant enough to allow them to close the first half with a 1-0 lead. However, as soon as the second-half commenced, all hell broke loose for Antwerp!
Coming in as a substitute, Evanilson scored his the opening goal for Porto just seconds into the second-half that deflected off into the nets, bringing the scores level at 46 minutes. Just about eight minutes later, Stephen Eustaquio scored the second goal for Porto as he placed his shot into the far corner of the net to give Porto the lead at 54 minutes.
15 minutes later, it was Evanilson’s party again as he fired in a volley that beat the Antwerp gaol-keeper to get his second goal and the third one for his team. While Antwerp tried desperately to cut an opening and bridge the gap, Evanilson once again broke through, this time during the closing minutes of the match as he finished a sublime chip into the nets to complete his hat-trick.
With 84 minutes on the clock, Porto were cruising towards a formidable 4-1 victory over the opponents, who had no clue what happened. Antwerp had dominated the first half, closing the first half with a lead and were looking to follow things up in the second half. But the tides turned around so rapidly in a way that no one would’ve imagined. Porto punched back four goals, with three of them coming from just Evanilson in just the second-half to walk away with a dominating win.
As for the current scenario, Barcelona top the Group H standings with 9 points, and are now followed by Porto with 6 points, thanks to the crucial game changing performance by Evanilson. Shakhtar Donetsk follow with 3 points in their kitty and Antwerp are yet to get their first points of this season.
