Tariq Lamptey showed his promise early on and the full-back created two golden chances. First, his cutback found Conor Gallagher on the edge of the box and the midfielder fired over from 12 yards. Then it was Luke McCormick’s chance to produce a carbon copy, firing over when he really should have hit the target.
Chelsea nearly paid the price for their missed chances when Fabio Silva burst through on goal after a clever bit of play from Tomas Esteves and he rounded Karlo Ziger. But the angle was against him and his tame effort was cleared off the line by Marc Guehi.
Porto wouldn’t rue that chance for long. Mor Ndiaye played a brilliant low cross into the box and there was Fabio Vieira unmarked at the back post to tap home to give the Portuguese side the lead.
Chelsea were struggling all of a sudden and nearly fell two behind when Joao Mario dragged his shot inches wide of the far post.
The Blues should have levelled when McCormick reacted first after a poor back header from Angel Torres but he could only strike it straight at goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
After the interval, they got the crucial equaliser. Juan Castillo whipped in a superb cross and Costa came out to claim it but there was Daishawn Redan to steal in ahead of the goalkeeper and head into the empty net.
Porto went back in front just two minutes later after Ziger saved from Joao Mario and the rebound ricocheted off Diogo Quieros before bouncing over the line. It was a hammer blow for Blues and one they didn’t recover from.
The Portuguese came forward in search of a third and got it seconds after Chelsea were denied a brilliant block. Castillo surged forward down the left but Diogo Leite timed his tackle to perfection, and after breaking quickly, Romario Baro’s clever backheel found Afonso Sousa, who’s strike was helped by some questionable goalkeeping from Karlo Ziger.
Chelsea coach Joe Edwards sent on Charlie Brown, the competition’s top scorer with 12 goals, on in the final quarter of an hour but it proved to be in vain as Porto claimed their first Uefa Youth League triumph.
