Basel vs. Porto: Score, Grades and Reaction from 2015 Champions League

Porto struck late to take an away goal from their trip to Basel on Wednesday evening, drawing 1-1 in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie.   

The Dragons will be disappointed not to have won a match in which they dominated for long stretches, despite trailing against their Swiss hosts for the vast majority. Eurosport confirmed the full-time result: 

Basel got off to a slow start as Porto made their presence felt early on at St. Jakob-Park, with Cristian Tello managing to make use of his speed down the right flank.

However, the hosts didn't take long to find their foothold, and it was on the 11-minute mark that Derlis Gonzalez struck to give Basel a 1-0 lead, which FourFourTwo Stats Zone showed came against the run of play:

Gonzalez did tremendously to hold off the advances of two Porto defenders after tidily collecting the ball 25 yards from goal, scurrying past opposing goalkeeper Fabiano with a coolly rolled finish.

That would be the forward's most significant contribution, however, as the official Champions League Twitter account confirmed Gonzalez was forced off with an early injury:

Despite that setback, Paulo Sousa's men continued to press for a second, but it was clear that Porto would be difficult to break down again, looking to avoid their first defeat of this season's Champions League.

And it would only get worse for the hosts as the clock ticked toward half-time, with Porto's defenders giving their team a significant boost moving forward, entrenching the Swiss giants inside their own half:

Basel were fortunate to take a lead in at the break as the Dragons' shot count began to mount, but creation is nothing without the finishing touch, the latter of which Porto lacked.

Squawka illustrates that Porto were indeed the more creative team at half-time, with Basel accounting for just the one chance at goal, which they took:

Striker Jackson Martinez brought a prolific record of five goals in five group matches into this fixture, but the Colombian struggled to evade his markers long enough to unearth any clear-cut chances on goal.

The Portuguese titans thought they had found their equaliser after 52 minutes when Casemiro fumbled in a rebounding ball in the box, but as ESPN FC reported, the goal was disallowed:

Two offside players were found by referee Mark Clattenburg to be obstructing the view of Basel stopper Tomas Vaclik, but Porto could remain hopeful that their torrent of pressure would eventually make the breakthrough.

Swiss tempers began to flare as the match entered its closing exchanges, however, with centre-backs Walter Samuel and Marek Suchy just two of those to pick up cautions along the way. 

Try as Porto might, the deficit remained. And although Basel appeared to almost accept their fate as the withdrawing team, their efforts were enough to keep the travelling outfit at bay.

At last, the defence gave way, though, and Porto pulled level through a Danilo penalty 11 minutes from time:

Tensions picked up once again during the closing minutes at St. Jakob-Park, with OptaJohan displaying what a tense fixture this turned out to be:

In the end, Porto were forced to settle for an away goal and head back to Portugal knowing they could have taken more from their trip to Basel.

Player Grades

Casemiro: A-

Real Madrid would do well to take notice of such a promising performance from Casemiro, who looks to be excelling during his season-long loan at Porto and was a key part of the team's midweek draw.

No other player mustered more tackles than the Brazilian's tally of six, but he was also of extreme use as the foundation of many a forward movement from the Dragons.

Arguably the best player on the evening, Casemiro sat in the middle of Porto's central trio and orchestrated play wonderfully when given time on the ball, coping equally as well during Basel's rare spells in possession.

Fabian Frei: B+

Basel were few and far between when it came to consistent sources of creation on Wednesday, but Fabian Frei sat at the core of their midfield as one constantly looking to engineer something out of nothing.

His first contribution came in setting up Gonzalez for the opener, earning the praise of Just Football for his pass to lay on the opportunity:

The 26-year-old could have been more useful tracking back at times, but he finished with a passing accuracy of 82 per cent and might have succeeded more had his team-mates been as energetic in possession.

Alex Sandro: B+

It may have been right-back Danilo who stole the headlines with his equalising strike, but left-back Alex Sandro had a hugely encouraging game on Wednesday evening to help maintain Porto's assault.

Getty Images/Getty Images

While second only to the aforementioned Casemiro in Porto's tackling stakes with four of his own, Sandro also managed to complete two dribbles down the left flanks, more than any other defender on the night.

The Brazilian's outing was somewhat marred following a high boot on Taulant Xhaka in the 51st minute, but that wasn't enough to paper over the immense work he contributed in both attack and defence. 

All statistics come courtesy of WhoScored.com.

Post-Match Reaction

It took Porto a long time to break down Basel's barriers, but a well-deserved draw in Switzerland leaves the Portuguese side with a lot to be hopeful for in the second leg.

After the full-time whistle, Squawka showed just how outclassed the St. Jakob-Park hosts were when it came to pressure on goal:

What's more, the visiting side completed more than twice as many passes as the home team, misplacing just 87 of the 593 attempted:

Following such a classy display, WhoScored.com nominated Porto maestro Casemiro as the man of the match and deservedly so:

Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe agreed with the rave reviews earned by the Brazilian but condemned the dirty trend that the fixture took on as the cautions almost ran into double digits:

Porto can look to use their away goal as a springboard to victory in the reverse fixture, looking to repel Basel at the Estadio do Dragao and book their berth in the Champions League quarter-finals:

Still, Sousa was not happy with the club's overall performance. "After the first twenty minutes Porto was clearly stronger. After the initial phase, we were not able to implement what we had planned. I'm happy with the result, but it was one of our worst games, we can still improve in the second leg," Sousa said following the game, courtesy of Caspar Marti of the club's official website.