Hard work pays off for magic Dragons

Defender Bruno Alves praised the spirit that helped FC Porto win 3-0 at Club Atlético de Madrid but insisted the match at the Vicente Calderón Stadium was far from straightforward.

Team effort
Already sure of a place in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round as Group D runners-up, the Dragons were nonetheless relentless in their search for a fourth victory in the section which they achieved thanks to Alves's early header and further efforts from Falcao and Hulk. Speaking to uefa.com after the game, the Portuguese international admitted he was delighted to be named the game's uefa.com Player Rater winner. "It's always something special to receive such an accolade especially after you've beaten a team 3-0," the 28-year-old said. "It's never easy obtaining a result like this and it was one that came about through our side's togetherness."

Goalscoring run
Alves has now scored in successive games – the defender having found the net in last Friday's league victory over Vitória SC – with Tuesday's strike his second in 35 UEFA Champions League appearances. Having also hit the target for Portugal in the recent FIFA World Cup play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina the central defender will now be hoping his run can continue into the next phase of European club football's élite competition, the draw for which will be made on 18 December. "We know all the teams in the next round are going to be world class," he stated. "We'll have to be at our best and work very hard to overcome whoever we come up against."

Top-level tournament
Meanwhile Atlético's Luis Perea believed his team needed to recover from "a very tough defeat" in order to lift themselves for the challenge that awaits in the UEFA Europa League, which they reached thanks to their third-placed group finish. "We're not happy with tonight's result especially as it came at home," the 30-year-old Colombian told uefa.com. "Unfortunately we're out of the UEFA Champions League but the Europa League contains teams of the highest standard which means the two tournaments are practically at the same level and we're delighted to be involved. What we need to do now is put this blow behind us and look forward to starting a new competition afresh."