FC PORTO come from behind to secure hard-fought home win

On Thursday, Portugal’s FC PORTO hosted and defeated Fundación Cajasol ANDALUCÍA 3-1 (23-25, 29-27, 25-22, 25-21) in the first leg of the second qualifying round in the elite CEV Champions League Volley 2027. With this result, the Dragons head into the second leg with an advantage, with the return match scheduled for 7:00 p.m. next Wednesday at the Pabellón Dos Hermanas in Seville.

Miguel Coelho named Milana Božić, Caylen Alexander, Saška Djurović, Shainah Joseph, Ana Monteiro and Kelsey Veltman in his starting line-up, alongside libero Beatriz Basto. FC PORTO saw the visitors make the stronger start (2-5), but turned things around thanks to Alexander’s attacking prowess (15-14). The first set remained closely contested throughout, and shortly afterwards, the Spanish champions regained the lead to take it by the narrowest of margins (23-25).

After an evenly-matched start to the second set, the Blue-and-Whites began to struggle to find points, prompting Eliana Durão, Nataša Čikiriz and Victória Pinto to come on in an attempt to boost the team’s attacking options. Thanks to two aces from Veltman, the hosts managed to close the gap (12-15), but the equaliser only came in the closing stages (22-22). With everything still to play for, Božić and Joseph returned to the court, and FC PORTO eventually won the second set with invaluable support from the stands (29-27).

Strong at the net and from the service line, Miguel Coelho’s side quickly took the lead (8-4) in the third set. Despite the Spanish side’s attempts to fight back (9-9), FC PORTO never trailed throughout the third set. At 16-13, the double substitution paid off, and an excellent serving run from Durão secured a seven-point advantage, which proved crucial in the 25-22 set victory.

Buoyed by their momentum from the previous sets, the Dragons made the better start (8-6) in the fourth too, but the Spanish champions refused to back down and even managed to take the lead (17-20). However, when Veltman stepped up to serve, the momentum shifted, and FC PORTO secured the much-desired victory with an impressive run of blocks and a missed serve from the Spanish side (25-21).

Miguel Coelho, head coach of FC PORTO: “I think winning is extremely important, especially on bad days. We managed to secure a victory in the qualifying rounds for the best competition in the world. I liked the fact that the team did not give up despite having a bad day, and I liked what the players coming off the bench brought to the team.
If we look at the fundamentals, we struggled with our serve today and made mistakes in simple situations, such as ball touches, net violations and one-on-one attacking situations. We got the game plan wrong in certain moments, and we cannot afford to make those mistakes. We cannot get our positioning on the court wrong.
In terms of performance, today was well below the level we know we can produce, but this does not change my opinion of the players or the way they work. They give absolutely everything. I really enjoy having them here day in, day out. I like this group, the way they work, the way they respond to adversity and the way they prepare for these matches with such high competitive pressure.
We managed to win a Champions League qualifying match on a day when we got almost everything wrong. The coach and the Fundación Cajasol team must be absolutely furious to have lost against us.”