Champions League - Ronaldo fires United through

Eurosport - Thu, 16 Apr 10:01:00 2009

A stunning long-range strike from Cristiano Ronaldo sent Manchester United into the Champions League semi-finals with a 1-0 win at Porto.

2008-2009 Champions League Porto-Manchester United Cristiano Ronaldo Wayne Rooney - 0

The Portuguese powered home a spectacular drive in the sixth minute as the holders secured a tense 3-2 aggregate victory.

United became the first British side to win at the Estadio do Dragao in 23 attempts over 41 years, and their reward is an all-Premier League semi-final against Arsenal.

After a month of shambolic defending and uncertainty, this was the solid, secure United that earlier this season set a record number of consecutive Premier League clean sheets.

Rio Ferdinand must take much credit for this on his return from a groin injury. While he did not have an outstanding game individually, his constant communication appeared to imbue his colleagues with improved positional sense and confidence.

Nemanja Vidic, in particular, looked much improved from his poor displays against Liverpool, Sunderland and the first leg against Porto.

Porto fielded the same starting 11 that performed so admirably at Old Trafford a week earlier, but were without their charismatic coach Jesualdo Ferreira, who served a touchline ban.

The punishment was the result of a misguided appeal against a sanction from earlier in the competition, and Ferreira opted not even to turn up to the stadium, leaving his assistant Jose Gomez to his own devices.

United failed to control the first leg, allowing Porto to snatch a late 2-2 draw, but grabbed the return fixture by the scruff of the neck. Or rather, Ronaldo did.

The winger has been widely criticised for performing below his best this season, but for all the carping he remains a fairly useful player - if not the world's best, then certainly still in the top 10.

He has 20 goals to his name this campaign and has lost none of his sense of occasion.

After five minutes of barracking from the Porto fans - a product of his former association with rivals Sporting Lisbon - Ronaldo unleashed a firecracker from nearly 40 yards that whooshed past Helton into the top-left corner.

Take that, naysayers.

In an instant, all the angst about Mariano Gonzalez's late equaliser in the first leg disappeared.

United had regained the aggregate advantage and could once again lead from the front. Although Porto improved as the half went on, they were reduced to half-chances - the best of these came to Bruno Alves who beat Vidic in the air but sent his header just wide.

United fans held their breath when Wayne Rooney pulled up in pain on 37 minutes after a challenge from Rolando.

The England striker has had a tough history against Portuguese opponents. He suffered a broken metatarsal against Portugal at Euro 2004, then another following a Paulo Ferreira tackle versus Chelsea in 2006. Then he was sent off - after an intervention from Ronaldo - for a stamp at that year's World Cup, again against Portugal.

While United could have been forgiven for fearing the worst, the 23-year-old hobbled around briefly before shaking the injury off.

Porto created little in the second half, but the knowledge that a single home goal would send the holders out meant jitters crept in.

United have not forgotten the late Costinha goal that allowed Jose Mourinho's Porto to topple them in 2004, and the failure to add more breathing space made for a tense finale.

Edwin van der Sar's horribly bobbled clearance on 82 minutes typified the anxiety, yet in truth he had little to do except make some routine saves from Hulk and Lisandro Lopez.

After the pyrotechnics at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, this was much more like the tense, tight Champions League we know.

But United know what it takes to win and did just enough to set up an all-English semi-final.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 304 - 323 of 363

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  1. i was sure for man utd!!!!furthermore, i was sure that­ cristiano ronaldo would saved man utd!!!he is the best­ football player in the world!!!

    From elvirakoutsouki, on Thu 16 Apr 10:00AM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    So UTD struggled to beat a "pub" team,­ whoopey doo!! Chelsea this is your year boys!!

    From Citizen Smith 1962, on Thu 16 Apr 9:53AM

  3. To Jason d: Thanks for that mate.You're right that­ songs are sung about terrible tragedies by so called­ fans of both teams and they have no right to associate­ themselves in any way with two great clubs and two­ great sets of supporters.Like you shouting for­ Utd,I'll cheer Liverpool on in the run-in for the­ Premiership title.But if Man U get it and let's­ face it,they are in the driving seat,then fair play.All­ the best.

    From jhr881, on Thu 16 Apr 9:52AM

  4. What a wonderful play United has broken the law at Fc­ Porto's home . For more than 15 to 20 years no­ Club have won Porto at home instead of winning them the­ natch will end up goal-less or draw, but for yesterday­ United defeated them and we the United Fan are so happy­ cux those Guys had a big plan for them and it worked.­ Go United you are the best Club. For Arsenal they are­ too little.

    From Eby.star, on Thu 16 Apr 9:40AM

  5. post 349 just about says it all about Loserpool and the­ Fat big mouthed Spanish Waiter... Loserpool scum fans­ and Fatso are only good at making excuses for their­ failures....hahahaha

    From Enjay, on Thu 16 Apr 9:37AM

  6. ADEKOLA.TUNDE your just an annoying idiot. I'm­ neither Liverpool or Man utd supporter but your comment­ just annoys. Porto were very under par last night and­ Man utd were worse.....ok you made it through but­ performences like this in the future and you can say­ goodbye to all your trophies this season. Arsenal are­ flying right now and they have the oppertunity to take­ you out of contention for all competitions. Mn utd have­ been pretty poor all season and i cant see them getting­ any better.

    From mcilwraith01, on Thu 16 Apr 9:35AM

  7. I remember the Hillsborough disaster well and, like­­­ Munich, Bradford and Heysel, it is always a tragedy­ if­­ people die when all they set out to do was enjoy­ a­ game­ of football. They were accidents and no­ decent­ person­ should throw around insults which seek­ to take­­ advantage of personal misery. If there was­ any decency­­ at Old Trafford or Anfield, the vast­ majority of loyal­­ fans would get the crazies who­ shout slurs about­ Munich­ and Hillsborough banned for­ life. Yahoo should­ do the­ same here

    The game of­ football is about­ passion and­ about each of us who­ love the game getting­ 100% behind­ our team, and­ taking the mick out of the­ fans of our­ main­ competitors at every conceivable­ opportunity. ­ That­ will always make us have a tendancy­ towards being­ a­ bit too tribal, but keep it in­ proportion everybody­­ ... and be prepared to take it as­ well as give it,­­ since we've all had good games­ and bad games,­ good­ seasons and disasterous­ seasons.

    As a 50 year­­ supporter of Man U (yes, I do­ go to Old Trafford­­ regularly !), it's great to see­ Leeds eating­ dirt;­ it's great to be on a 10 year­ streak of­ domination­ (at least domestically); it's­­ fantastic to see the­ Liverpool arrogance of the­­ 80's being a distant­ painful memory; ... and­­ there's nothing quite so­ enjoyable as winning­­ another Premier Leauge watching a­ bunch of sobbing­­ Frenchies, Ruskies and Spaniards­ sobbing in their­­ Bentleys.

    However, whilst I love my­ team and loathe­­ all of you pretenders, I'm not so­ blind as not to­­ genuinely admire the passion of the­ Liverpool and­­ Newcastle supporters ... and not so­ blinkered as to­­ recognise the fighting spirit that­ Liverpool showed­ on­ Tuesday night (however much I­ wanted you to lose­ just­ to watch the grin slip off­ Benitez' face at­ the­ post-match interview)

    Now­ folk, back to the­ ribbing -­ Man U forever and, you­ bunch of sad­ scousers, just­ keep watching Ronaldo's­ strike­ last night and­ weeping on your benefit­ statements !

    From Eby.star, on Thu 16 Apr 9:34AM

  8. stop talking about Liverpool its man u you have to pay­ attentions to what a game to go there and stop them­ playing in there own back yard, and to score the best­ gold i have seen this year, great team man u,

    From Michael F, on Thu 16 Apr 9:28AM

  9. we are there for all cup and and no team can can stop­ as.man unt gave england a gift for the history which no­ team ha eva done that.they are doing it again these­ season.................................................­ .....

    From shuake2001, on Thu 16 Apr 9:28AM

  10. Whaoh! what a game, i said it yesterday that Man U will­ scale through, if any English team can beat Porto at­ home, its Man U, thats another record. oops! where are­ the loserfool scousers? i guess hiding their pathetic­ faces in shame, out of the big 4 in the PL, only 3­ made it to the semi finals of the CL (the best 3), the­ same 3 are good contenders in the 3 competitions left­ (PL, CL and FA), loserfools nothing for you this­ season, wait another 100 years, oh, tell Rafa to shut­ his big mouth and show some respect to the SIR of­ football, maybe he would be taught the secret of­ winning medals. Man U v Chelsea for CL final. Go Man U­ Go, UNITED 4 LIFE.

    From tunde, on Thu 16 Apr 9:21AM

  11. ian m. i agree witha lot of what you say, but as a­ liverpool fan i would just like to say that the memory­ still remains and soon to be replaced by new­ premiership title wins(not this season) i did want unt­ to win last night though.
    i am one who will chear­ english clubs always. but for now "come on you­ gunners"

    From Georgia, on Thu 16 Apr 9:08AM

  12. rc.alcock

    I HOPE YOU HAVE NASTY ACCIDENT TODAY.

    From crazyjim799, on Thu 16 Apr 9:07AM

  13. Martin B,

    I HAVE !!!!

    From crazyjim799, on Thu 16 Apr 9:04AM

  14. ibanez777vbk,

    YOU ARE AN IGNORANT FOOL. THERE IS NO­ NEED FOR THAT SORT OF COMMENT.

    From crazyjim799, on Thu 16 Apr 9:04AM

  15. To. jhr881,

    You are so right, i do however come across­ many supporters who will sing sad sad sad sadistic­ songs about Munich and Hillsborough.

    These people­ should be shot publicly !! the Shafted from behind.­ there is no dignity in making fun at disater, why­ people seem to think its funny or clever is beyond me.­ I see these sorts of things everyday, unfortunately in­ my line of work i have to deal with these cretins.­

    Respect to all those supporters who can put the petty­ differences aside to show respect for eachother in­ times like these i applaud you all for doing so.

    Good­ win for Man Utd, Arsenal are going to be even tougher­ to beat, they are on top form in europe at the moment,­ going to be very tricky and may the best team on the­ day win.

    Good luck to Liverpool in the run in, but as­ allways!! come u you Red Devils, its there for the­ taking !!

    From crazyjim799, on Thu 16 Apr 9:02AM

  16. brianlombe ???????????? 328.Where are the loud-mouthed­ liverfool fans and their­ spagetti coach rafa? thanks­ to
    arsenal for booting out­ liverfool. the final?­ obviously MAN-U vs chelsea..after­ the
    match, we retain­ the cup..glory..glory..glory­ haleluyaaaaaaa

    BEL pa­ zed

    sHORT MEMORY YOU'VE GOT AND IT ONLY HAPPENED­ YESTERDAY, YOU PLAY ARSENAL IN THE SEMIS YOU F***WIT.­ ANOTHER ONE WHOS NEVER BEEN TO A LIVE FOOTBALL GAME­ LMFAO

    From Deep Sea Diver, on Thu 16 Apr 9:02AM

  17. take a bow to the bro Ronaldo

    From Angelos, on Thu 16 Apr 9:00AM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    CHRISTINEMACKENA YOU NEED TO TAKE THAT 32 INCH DILLDO­ OUT OF YOUR A.S.S HAHAHAHAHA

    From robbieisfineshedyahoooo, on Thu 16 Apr 8:58AM

  19. BRIANLOME DONT TAKE THIS PERSONALY BUT WHY DONT YOU GO­ AND BOIL YOUR HEAD :)

    From robbieisfineshedyahoooo, on Thu 16 Apr 8:56AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    All is set for asernal to conquer. Man U to be gunned­ down

    Amonike the Gunner

    From AMON, on Thu 16 Apr 8:55AM
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