Champions League - United held by Porto

Eurosport - Wed, 08 Apr 10:07:00 2009

Holders Manchester United were held to a 2-2 draw by an impressive Porto side in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie at Old Trafford.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Champions League FC Porto's Cristian Rodriguez (left) celebrates after scoring the first goal as Manchester United's Patrice Evra stands dejected (centre) - 0

United appeared to have wrapped up victory when substitute Carlos Tevez swooped in the 85th minute after Wayne Rooney had cancelled out Cristian Rodriguez's early opener.

But another second half replacement, Mariano Gonzalez, netted for the visitors in the last minute to put Porto firmly in the driving seat ahead of next week's return leg at the Estadio do Dragao.

The result saw United extend their unbeaten run in the competition to 22 games but Porto's formidable home record will now be of real concern to Alex Ferguson, whose team will have to win to keep alive their hopes of retaining the trophy.

The Scot's opposite number Jesualdo Ferreira had promised the visitors would attack from the outset, and it was clear his words were backed up by substance as Porto flew out of the blocks and went straight for the United jugular from the opening whistle.

In just the third minute, Hulk - a danger throughout - unleashed a powerful drive from distance which Edwin Van der Sar was forced to tip over the bar

The visitors' forward-thinking was rewarded soon after with the opener on four minutes, Rodriguez pouncing on a poor Jonny Evans clearance before sidestepping the defender and firing low into the far corner.

United were stunned, and took their time to recover. Rarely do the English and European champions show so clearly they are rattled, but such was their lack of composure after the goal went in their passing game suffered, a number of passes going uncharacteristically astray.

And Porto nearly capitalised, Lisandro Lopez bringing Van der Sar into action again with a well-struck effort on six minutes.

With so many passes failing to reach their intended targets, United were by and large impotent going forward, although Helton was finally called on to deny Cristiano Ronaldo a header on 14 minutes.

It was a decent save by the Porto keeper, but there was nothing he could do moments later when a moment of madness from defender Bruno Alves handed United an equaliser on a plate.

The Portugal international committed the cardinal sin of making a blind back pass; if he had looked before playing the ball back to Helton, he would have seen Rooney sneaking up behind him.

The United striker gratefully accepted the gift, running onto the ball before dinking it over the keeper and into the back of the net.

But the hosts failed to use the goal as a springboard to take control of the game - and Porto's fearless display can take a great deal of credit for that.

The Portuguese champions continued to attack at every opportunity and were unlucky not to re-take the lead before the first half was out, Rodriguez twice going close with headers and Hulk seeing a long-range shot bounce wide.

After the break, United's uncertainty on the ball initially persisted, but eventually they did begin to enjoy more possession and with that came chances to grab a winner.

After Park Ji-Sung had stung the gloves of Helton, Rooney gave the hosts a lift with an exquisite attempted lob which the furiously backpeddling Porto keeper was forced to tip over the bar.

From the resulting corner Nemanja Vidic, who along with Rooney and Paul Scholes returned to the United line-up from suspension, thumped a header goalwards but again Helton was alert enough to make the save.

At the other end, Lopez saw a deflected shot trouble Van der Sar before Aly Cissokho blasted on target from distance.

The visitors had a big penalty shout turned down on 74 minutes when Tevez, on in the 72nd minute for Scholes, appeared to bring down Hulk at the by-line in the box.

A relieved Tevez went on to lift United spirits on 85 minutes, the Argentine netting from close range after Rooney had flicked on Gary Neville's throw into the Porto penalty area.

But the relief around Old Trafford was short-lived as an unmarked Gonzalez finished at the far post four minutes later to ensure that United will face an uphill battle in next Wednesday's return leg.

Eurosport

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  1. what kind of "SIR" is that? I may support­ ManUTD but it doesn't mean i have 2 be blind...­ Ferguson said the last goal was "a bad goal to­ lose"..."lack of concntration",­ sooooooooo what about ManUTD equaliser??... it was a­ gift!!!!!...the luckiest one in this years champions­ league. & FCPorto deserved 2 win for more than one­ goal. No doubt about it. &...just 2 remember: FC­ Porto never lost agains a brittish club at home (Dragon­ Stadium)

    From Daniel Alex. F. Menezes, on Mon 13 Apr 4:29PM

  2. Pls sir Alex, cant you realise once and for all as most­ of the fans that your so called experiensed players­ such as the complete finished articles Gary Neville and­ Paul Schol are making us loose games we should easyly­ win.Then in regard to Carlos Tevez,he deserve a contrat­ after helping us win the Champions League and the­ League last seaon what a fantastic player he is, plz­ tell me where was your so called Gary Neville in­ (Glasgow)? missing all season,Stop kiding confirm Rio­ Ferdinand the man as the club captain and start playing­ Rooney,Tevez,Berbatov,and Ronaldo togather because­ it's the only way to penetrate openents,play­ Anderson,Carrick,Giggs,Fletcher in midfield as for­ Neville and Paul Scholl their only place is to go for­ free to Tottenham asp then sort out Tevez'situaion­ he is 10 time's Neville+Scholls.Come on Manu.

    From ODIMBA, on Thu 9 Apr 12:06AM

  3. har har manu turds

    From Colin H, on Wed 8 Apr 7:28PM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    har­ haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar manu turds

    From Colin H, on Wed 8 Apr 7:26PM

  5. har har har har har manu turds

    From Colin H, on Wed 8 Apr 7:23PM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    har har har har manu turds

    From Colin H, on Wed 8 Apr 7:22PM

  7. har har har manu turds

    From Colin H, on Wed 8 Apr 7:22PM

  8. har har manu turds

    From Colin H, on Wed 8 Apr 7:21PM

  9. PORTO! you all are saying that man united did not play­ well because its players were bad. man united played­ awfully because porto didn't allowed mu to play. we­ are going to eliminate you and advance to the semi­ finals, because you will not be able to win on our­ stadium. all hail porto! and shut up you all

    From danielage1, on Wed 8 Apr 5:52PM

  10. 5,4.1 AT THETHEATRE OF YAWNS, KNIGHT OF THE REALM ­ ....MY AR*SE, DON,T EVER SLAG BENITEZ OFF FOR BEING NEG­ AT CATHEDRAL OF FOOTBALLL

    From TEVEZ, on Wed 8 Apr 5:47PM

  11. PEOPLE HAVE SAID BENITEZ HAS BEEN TO NEG IN THE PAST,­ WHAT ABOUT M.US FORMATION ON WED NITE .5.4.1 AT THE­ THEATRE OF YAWNS. BUT NOWT IS SAID IN THE PRESS,­ BECAUSE BLUE NOSE HAS THE PRESS IN HIS ..............­ BACK POCKET AS WELL AS OTHER PEOPLE, KNIGHT OF THE­ REALM.................. MY AR*SE

    From TEVEZ, on Wed 8 Apr 5:28PM

  12. KOCH, people have slagging blue nose off for years,­ it,s who is blind, or deaf. the brown envelope­ obviously did,nt work against PORTO, wonder if ti will­ against SUNDERLAND.?

    From TEVEZ, on Wed 8 Apr 5:23PM

  13. TAFFY G, LONG TIME NO HEAR, HOW ARE THE DONKEYS ON RYHL­ BEACH, YOU NEVER DID TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY DO WITH­ THEM, AND HOW ARE THE ... BIG ISSUE SALE,S?

    From TEVEZ, on Wed 8 Apr 5:19PM

  14. They are no longer United, they're noe divided

    From mashewani, on Wed 8 Apr 3:48PM

  15. I think the time has come for Sir Alex F. to decide on­ Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a great player, no doubt about­ that. However, of recent, he appeared to be less­ enthusiasitic about giving the best for the Club. In­ the match against Aston V., he lost possession­ carelessly and it resulted into the second goal!­ Yesterday, he lost another possession and it resulted­ into a goal. It is not the fact of losing possession­ that is stomach-aching, but the way he responds­ lackadaisically afterwards. He would not even bother to­ fight to regain possession. This is outrageous! @#$%­ Stam left, Beckham left, Nistelroy left, Heinze left­ and Man U remains as Man U. Of recent, both O'shea­ and Neville have become shadows of their old selves. In­ the match against Aston V., Gary's performance­ reminded me about Celestine Babayaro. A striker would­ be approaching the goal and Babayaro would be moving­ back at his 18metres box! Rather than tackling the­ approaching striker outside the box, he would be­ leading him into the box. That exactly was what Gary­ has been doing of recent. Apart from the above,­ it's like the players don't like to hit the­ ball hard. Passes would not get to their intended­ destinations and in most cases would go to the­ opponent. The zeal to win appears to have gone either­ due to over-confidence or lack of fitness or both. A­ team can always lose a match but the manner of losing­ is usually of utmost concern. Much spaces are now being­ given to opponents. This is uncharacteritic of Man U.­ The never-say-die attitude towards the end of a­ must-win match is no longer there. When the team leads­ by a lone goal and goes to sleep thinking, erroneously,­ that the match is over, they get punished even by­ minnows!Fergie, wake these guys up, many hearts are­ usually broken at times like this. Enough is­ enough.

    Caleb.

    From Caleb, on Wed 8 Apr 3:26PM

  16. Utd look a spent force , need rafel back at right back­ , and rio in the centre of the back 4 , tried to play­ 5-4-1 at home what's that all about with carrick­ the holding player @#$% and park NEVER seen this man­ control a ball from a 1-2 , anderson to be the holding­ player and nani ( and he's been poor this year) on­ the wing ,LAST THROW OF THE DICE defeat next week will­ knock on to the fa semi and beyond AND IF THAT­ HAPPIN'S ITS 3rd place and a not so full O/T next­ season

    From anthony h, on Wed 8 Apr 3:11PM

  17. when manure is not given penalties thats how they­ perform. man u is going out whether you like it or not.­ viva chelsea Rome here we come. Lightone

    From Lightone, on Wed 8 Apr 2:38PM

  18. pls alex ferguson should be very careful in his­ selection dis days,bcos fans were been tired of­ gambling all d time.d likes of john oshea and gary­ nevile are not a better combination in our defence,and­ everyone is complaining of dat,pls tell ferguson to­ find better 2,bcos we are tired of been trashed down by­ any how team.our attacking spirit is totally low i cant­ emerging a player recieving a ball and relax on it till­ ur opponent comes and take it away dat is absolutely­ robbish.all our player attack no more they all run­ around d feild without focus,giving inadequate pass,i­ thougth d sole cause of all dis is­ overconfidence,thinking dey have arrived not knowing­ they just started.if they want to win anything again­ dis season dey should tithen up their belt and be­ focused.THANKS ALOT MANU 4 LIFE.

    From Gbadebo J, on Wed 8 Apr 1:21PM

  19. Man u is the best. i wish they win all 3 cups. they are­ great. Binta Manneh

    From Binta, on Wed 8 Apr 1:09PM

  20. AS A LIVERPOOL FAN,, THE GAME IS HALF WAY.
    THE TEAM­ THAT IS THE HUNGRIEST WILL ALLWAYS
    WIN. SO LETS SEE IN­ 2 WEEKS.REMEMBER ATHENS 2005

    From DYLAN H, on Wed 8 Apr 1:07PM
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