1st leg Porto started really shaky, led by new defender Felipe and washed up Casillas, which had Roma creating at will. They could have led 3 or even 4-0 in the first half.
Then Vermaelen does a classic Vermaelen pushing up solo, it goes wrong, 2nd yellow and he goes off.
Porto takes over. Roma holds on for 1-1.
Porto looked much better yesterday right from the start while Roma were nervy as hell. There is no other way to describe it.
New midfielder Paredes who had started the season looking exactly like what you would hope for, suddenly could not play football anymore. There is no other way to describe it. He couldn't run. He could barely move. He needed 3 touches to control the ball, then made bad passes. Defensively he was a statue. Of course it was him who gave up the dangerous freekick for Porto's opener. Opponents ran right past him. It was like he was sedated!
Then from there it was complete self destruction. De Rossi has proved many times at the most crucial times that ultimately if you want high level success he can't be relied on. Yeah, you're World Cup winner but that was despite De Rossi not because of him (never forget). He will lose his head eventually and wow did he do it here.
Direct red card.
Then the new player coming in also gets a direct red card.