Porto defender Maicon admits a poor first-half performance was costly for the Portuguese giants in their 1-1 draw with Austria Wien.
Roman Kienast pounced on a sloppy Danilo clearance to give the visitors a shock 11th minute lead at the Estádio do Dragão.
It took Porto until 60 seconds into the second half to net an equaliser, through Jackson Martínez.
Paulo Fonseca’s side couldn’t find a winner and are now relying on Austria Wien to stall FC Zenit, while they themselves must also win away to Atlético de Madrid.
Maicon was disappointed, but remains hopeful that Porto can progress.
“I was happy to play, but unfortunately we could not get the three points,” he told uefa.com. “We put in a lukewarm first-half performance, but in the second half we came back with a lot of effort.
“We did not get the result we wanted, sadly, but that is football. Mathematically, it is still possible.”
Maicon joined Porto in June 2009 from Nacional. He has made five appearances this season.
