Betis rallies past Porto with Isco penalty in 83rd minute, wins 3-2 in Champions League

Real Betis had to fight uphill, surviving a disallowed goal and conceding another right out of the gate in the second half, before pulling off a thriller at La Cartuja: 3-2 over FC Porto, with Isco's penalty in the 83rd minute landing the final blow. The Champions League clash was decided in the last ten minutes, after both sides traded blows throughout the second half.

The first half ended scoreless, but it did produce a moment that nearly changed everything: in the 39th minute, Martim Fernandes put the ball in the back of the Betis net, only for VAR to step in and disallow the goal two minutes later. With that scare behind them, Betis came out for the second half looking like a different team, and barely had the restart taken place when Abde Ezzalzouli curled a right-footed shot from inside the box into the top corner to make it 1-0 in the 46th minute, assisted by Fran García.

The lead didn't last long. Porto answered almost immediately: Gabri Veiga tied it up in the 53rd minute with a direct free kick that found the top left corner, and seven minutes later, in the 60th, Samu Aghehowa, who had just come on, made it 1-2 with a right-footed strike from the center of the box, set up by Pepê. The Portuguese side had turned the match around in just seven minutes of play.

Betis respond, then the decisive penalty

Betis didn't fold. In the 73rd minute, Cucho Hernández, also off the bench, leveled things up with a low finish from the center of the box after a pass from Antony. The equalizer left the match wide open, and the resolution came from the penalty spot: in the 80th minute, Francisco Moura fouled Ángel Ortiz inside the box, the referee reviewed the play on VAR in the 81st minute and confirmed the penalty for Betis. Isco made no mistake from twelve yards in the 83rd minute to make it a final 3-2.

In the time that remained, Porto pushed for an equalizer through several headers from Santiago Giménez, who had come on in search of a goal, but none of them found the target.

What the numbers say

Betis dominated possession and produced a greater volume of play, though Porto was sharper in its clearest chances.

Based on our estimate calculated from the match's shots, Betis generated 1.86 expected goals compared to Porto's 1.40, a gap that backs up the home side's greater attacking volume, even though the final result ended up turning on a single moment like the penalty.

Going into the match, our projection gave Betis a 31% chance of winning, 31% for a draw and 38% for a Porto win, with combined expected goals of 2.46. The match finished with five goals total, well above that figure, and with an outcome that favored the side given the lower odds of winning.

What the result means in the group stage

With this win, Betis moves to 6 points in the Champions League table, sitting in ninth place, with two wins from two matches played and a goal difference of +2. Porto, meanwhile, remains without a point after its two matches, sitting in 30th place, with a goal difference of -3. The gap between the two sides in the table stands at 6 points.

It was a back-and-forth match, with VAR taking center stage at several points, one that Betis ultimately claimed thanks to its ability to stay in the fight after Porto flipped the scoreline.