Porto frustrated, APOEL keep heads

FC Porto pair Hulk and João Moutinho lamented their team's inability to build on a good start – and the former's goal – in the 1-1 draw with APOEL FC. The Cypriot champions are not getting ahead of themselves according to Nuno Morais and equalising scorer Aílton, despite leading Group G at the halfway stage.

Hulk, Porto striker
We were hoping for a home win and we were looking for it until the end, but unfortunately we didn't manage it. We still have three games in front of us so we have to stay concentrated and be more focused. We knew they would defend deep in their half. We tried to get behind them but they defended very well. We have to get our heads up now.

We know they have a good team and it will be difficult, but with the quality of players that Porto have I'm sure that we'll go there [on 1 November] and get the victory. Is it decisive? Without a doubt.

João Moutinho, Porto midfielder
Clearly it wasn't what we hoped for. We aimed for the win and didn't get it. We have to move on from this. APOEL defended well and made the most of counterattacks, which we knew they would.

We didn't start badly, but we didn't manage to keep up that early intensity. Now we have to get points away from home to achieve our objective – to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League.

Aílton, APOEL striker
It was an important goal. Porto were favourites before the game and deserved to be, because they have a very good team, especially at home. This was a very important point for us.

We're not thinking about the group table. We'll just give 100% in every game and see what happens. Rather than looking at the next phase, we're going to try and get a good result in the next game too.

[Hulk] is a great player, a spectacular player, and everybody knows the goals he can score with his left foot. We knew he was dangerous from free-kicks.

Nuno Morais, APOEL defender
We had a pretty good game before, and this was an enjoyable game too. Did we expect to do so well? Obviously not. We've just gone into each game with the aim of doing our best, and we'll continue to do that in the coming games.

We go into the matches fully concentrated and we'll just try to get as many points as possible. We're just playing for three points [in the return] as always – nothing more, nothing less. We have a squad full of quality, too. With our hard work, we've shown again that we're in the Champions League on merit, and we will do again.