Adriano 'trick' ends Porto reign

Brazilian striker Adriano has scored a hat-trick as Inter Milan beat Porto 3-1 to end their reign as European champions and put Inter safely through to the last eight of the Champions League on a 4-2 aggregate.

Adriano scored after six and 63 minutes on Tuesday to put Inter 3-1ahead on aggregate but they were pegged back to 3-2 when Jorge Costa scored his first goal in the competition for more than five years by scrambling home from a corner after 69 minutes.

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Instead it was left to Adriano to complete his hat-trick three minutes from time to see Inter through to Friday's quarter-final draw along with Italian rivals AC Milan andJuventus.

The rest of the quarter-final lineup will be completed by Chelsea and Liverpool from England, Bayern Munich from Germany, PSV Eindhoven from the Netherlands and Olympique Lyon from France.

Porto, surprise winners last season, become the first defending champions to fail to make it to the last eight in the subsequent season.

Inter defender Marco Materazzi said afterwards: "Our only regret was not to have closed out the game sooner. We had chances, but thankfully it turned out OK in the end."

EXPLOSIVE BEST

Adriano had scored just one goal this calendar year but it was his return to his explosive best which proved to be the difference between the two sides. By the end of the match he had taken his Champions League tally for the season to seven goals from six matches.

The burly Brazilian gave Inter the perfect start with a somewhat fortunate opening goal. The striker latched on to a misplaced Porto pass and burst down the left flank, outpowering Jorge Costa before unleashing a left-foot drive which took a big deflection off the sliding Pedro Emanuel and looped over Porto keeper Vitor Baia into the net.

That should have settled Inter's nerves and made it clear to the Portuguese side that they had to take Inter on.

But Porto, who made five changes from the team which on Friday suffered their worst home defeat for 30 years with a 4-0 loss to Nacional, struggled to get into the game.

Looking a poor imitation of the team which won the competition last season, when under the charge of current Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, Porto lacked shape and incisiveness.

Inter were little better with Argentine Juan Sebastian Veron and Serb Dejan Stankovic playing out of position on the flanks, they were unable to develop any fluidity to their game.

SWIFT IMPACT

At the break Porto coach Jose Couceiro took off the ineffectual Brazilian Claudio, replacing him with Ricardo Quaresma and he made a swift impact with a 53rd minute shot whistling just wide of the post.

It was a different game now and Inter should have doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when after more sloppy passing from Porto, Veron burst into the area but his pass across the area was well behind Adriano and a great opportunity was wasted.

Adriano didn't have long to wait for a chance though. Just moments later Argentine Julio Ricardo Cruz put the Brazilian through and he made no mistake with a clinical finish after switching feet in a flash to score.

With nothing to lose Porto threw players forward and Greek right-back Georgios Seitaridis almost caught Inter keeper Francesco Toldo out with a long-range drive which the former Italy keeper only just kept out at his near post.

Porto's pressure paid off when Inter failed to deal with a low near post corner from Quaresma and defender Jorge Costa scrambled the ball home to make it 2-1 on the night.

Inter should have wrapped things up in the 71st minute when Stankovic was put in on goal but his woeful shot went harmlessly wide. The Italians wasted another chance ten minutes later when skipper Javier Zanetti sprung the offside trap, breaking through on his own, but he pushed the ball too far as he rounded Vitor Baia and his shot from a tight angle was cleared off the line by Emanuel.

But the tie was finally sealed three minutes from the end with Adriano completing his hat-trick, latching on to a Veron pass before skipping past Nuno Valente and firing home.