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FC Porto emerged victorious from the Portuguese flavoured night at Dublin as they defeated Braga 1-0 in the Europa League finals. The eighth one-nation final disappointed for long periods in the 1st half as an energetic opening gave way to disjointed play. Falcao scored his 17th goal in Europe this season to finally break the deadlock on the stroke of half-time with a well timed header.

Braga had a glorious opportunity at the restart to draw level, but Mossoro fluffed his chance in a one-on-one situation against Helton. Braga huffed and puffed in search of an equalizer but even their best spell couldn't deliver a goal against a confident Porto side.On the whole, it was a rather disappointing final with chances a premium but Porto wouldn't care too much as they walk away with their 4th major European trophy.

Andre Villas-Boas had an almost full strength squad to pick from as Porto went in with their usual attacking formation with Hulk and Falcao leading the line. The midfield four comprised of Fredy Guarin, Joao Moutinho, Fernando and Goncalves Varela. Rolando and Nicolas Otamendi formed the central of defence, with Alvaro Pereira and Cristian Sapunaru covering the full-back positions ahead of Helton in goal.

Domingos Paciencia set his team out in their favored 4-3-3, with the two wide men, Alan and Lima, their main attacking threats. Paulo Cesar recovered from a slight knock to complete the front three while Custodio, Hugo Viana and Vandinho formed a formidable midfield trio. The defence entrusted with stopping free-flowing Porto included Paulao and Alberto Rodriguez in the centre while Miguel Garcia and Silvio were the starting full backs.

It was frantic start to the game with both sides finding some space in behind the defence. The first effort on goal came courtesy of Custodio, whose shot flew just wide of the post. Hulk was getting some purchase squaring up against Silvio down the right wing as he fired an early effort wide of the far post. Braga were happy to defend in numbers and hit Porto on the counter-attack while the Dragons looked dangerous in the final third. Falcao headed a cross over the bar while at the other end Lima drew a regulation save out of Helton.

The game became scrappy midway through the half as both sides lacked composure in the middle of the park. Braga were finding it really hard to develop play around Lima while Porto's midfield kept running into a Red wall. With the game crawling towards half-time, Porto broke the deadlock through Falcao. Rodriguez gave the ball away far too cheaply as Guarin bore down the right before playing a peach of a cross into the box where Falcao made no mistake as he headed the ball into the net with aplomb.

Paciencia made a double substitution at the restart bringing on Kaka and Mossoro for Rodriguez and Viana respectively. The move almost paid off immediately as Mossoro ran clean through on goal, but Helton stood his ground to deny the attacker and maintain Porto's lead. Braga lost their early impetus once again as Porto settled down by taking control of midfield. Braga finally got a foothold in the game with twenty minutes to go and they were desperately unlucky not to have a man-advantage after Sapunaru, already on a yellow, hacked down Silvio. But the referee failed to produce a 2nd booking as Porto breathed a sigh of relief.

Braga were getting into good positions, but their decision making in the final third let them down once again as substitute Albert Meyong dragged his shot horribly wide. Porto also made substitutions of their own to refresh a tiring side and one of the substitutes, Fernando Belluschi, came the closest to sealing the victory as he struck a fierce effort inches wide of the goal. Braga couldn't find that elusive goal as the game finished 1-0.

Thirty three year old Andres Villas-Boas is now the youngest Manager ever to win a European trophy as his Porto side deservedly captured the Europa League. The Dragons had only one shot on target on the day, but with a striker of Falcao's quality in the side, all they needed was one sniff of goal. Falcao has now scored a record 17 goals in this year's campaign to help Porto regain the trophy they last won in 2002-03 under one Jose Mourinho. Braga were left ruing their missed chances as the lack of a clinical striker cost them dear. The game would have turned on its head had Mossoro scored early in the 2nd half, but it wasn't meant to be their day as Domingos Paciencia's reign at the Arsenalitas came to a disappointing end. The Dragons have now successfully captured two of the three trophies on the way to a historic treble and on current form its hard to see them losing out on the Portuguese Cup either.

Teams:

FC Porto: Helton, Sapunaru, Rolando, Otamendi, Pereira, Guarin (Belluschi 73'), Fernando, Joao Moutinho, Hulk, Falcao, Varela (Rodriguez 79').

Braga: Artur Moraes, Miguel Garcia, Paulao, Rodriguez (Kaka 46'), Silvio, Custodio, Hugo Viana (Mossoro 46'), Vandinho, Alan, Lima (Meyong 46'), Paulo Cesar.

Final Score: Porto 1–0 Braga (Falcao 44')