Porto 2-1 Lazio: Toni Martinez brace gives hosts Europa League play-off first leg advantage

In a game lacking in any real quality, Porto came from behind to defeat Lazio 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa League play-off. Two goals from Toni Martinez cancelled out a Mattia Zaccagni near-post flick to put the Portuguese side in the driving seat at the Estadio do Dragao.

Ad/> Sergio Conceicao masterminded a narrow victory for his side against a Maurizio Sarri team who were oddly cautious in their approach play; standing off out of possession and hesitant in it as their experienced heads were beaten by the boys in blue and white. FootballPepe one of four sent off after final whistle as Porto v Sporting ends in chaos12/02/2022 AT 09:03 The game itself ebbed and flowed, but had a scrappy, nervy nature to it.

Neither side could really keep hold of the ball as the hosts sought to control the game, with the visitors looking to hit them on the counter, and the positive mentality of Conceicao's side was enough to see them over the line. It wasn't before poor defending at a Luis Alberto corner routine allowed Zaccagni to sneak in front of Diogo Costa to prod home, but his strike was nullified by the brace of Martinez, who nodded his side level on 37 minutes before putting them ahead early in the second half with a swept finish into the far corner after a Joao Mario cross.

Martinez forced a good save from Thomas Strakosha as the home side seized on a Luiz Felipe mistake, but the Albanian goalkeeper was up to the task and denied the Spaniard his hat-trick. It was a disappointing result for a Lazio side missing talismanic striker Ciro Immobile, but he should be back for the second leg and Porto's slender one-goal lead could well prove fragile when they visit Rome.