To be Europe’s best, add a dash of samba

Carlos Alberto, the 19-year-old Brazilian winger given a starting place ahead of the more experienced Benni McCarthy, repaid the faith shown in him by Mourinho with a wonderful finish to put Porto ahead in the 39th minute.

Deco Souza, another Brazilian-born player of rare quality now representing Portugal, scored an equally stylish second goal after exchanging passes with Dmitri Alenichev to make it 2-0 after 71 minutes.

Derlei Silva, the third member of Porto’s Brazilian connection, was the provider for the third, as he sent Alenichev clear to blast past exposed keeper Flavio Roma.

It was a second major European honour for Porto in two seasons, following their UEFA Cup success last season, and made them the first side since Liverpool in 1976 and 1977 to complete that particular double in successive years.

Monaco and Porto, from two of the less fashionable European leagues, were both unlikely finalists. The French side had to beat Real Madrid in the quarterfinals and Chelsea in the semis, while Porto saw off Manchester United in the first knock-out round before beating Olympique Lyon and Deportivo Coruna.

Monaco’s hopes of victory in what was their first appearance in the European Cup final rested on Didier Deschamps finding the formula to stop Deco, Derlei and Carlos Alberto, while getting Ludovic Giuly and Fernando Morientes in behind the Porto defence.

Monaco’s plans were hit when Giuly was forced to leave the field after 23 minutes because of injury. His replacement, Dado Prso, never hinted at causing the same sort of danger.

Monaco were holding their own in what was a generally poor first half until Carlos Alberto’s classy finish put the Portuguese side ahead just before halftime. With just under 20 minutes to go, the inevitable happened. Deco, finding space in the centre for the first time, raced forward and freed substitute Alenichev on the left before taking a return pass and beating Roma with an unhurried strike. Monaco pressed forward gallantly but were hit again in much the same way four minutes later when Derlei set up Alenichev for the third.

Monaco and Porto owed their surprise European success this season to astute man-management and tactics from their coaches, as well as immense hard work and team spirit.

The final demonstrated that while those qualities will take you a long way, it pays to have a touch of Brazilian class to win the biggest games. (Reuters)