Manchester United Held To A Draw With Porto

porto man utd

Manchester United conceded two goals at Old Trafford and have made progressing in the Champions League increasingly more difficult for themselves than they should have, guilty of some erratic defending in their quarter final first leg match, especially in the last five minutes.

Porto left Old Trafford content with the manner in which they played and the priceless two away goals that could make all the difference when the teams meet again in a week’s time.

Three minutes into the match and Cristian Rodriguez propelled Porto into the lead with a clinical finish after some defensive hesitancy that was to become United’s trademark for the rest of the night.

Eleven minutes later Wayne Rooney put the hosts back in business after collecting Bruno Alves’ back pass and punishing Porto goalkeeper Helton with a shot into the right corner. The equaliser, however, did little to boost the morale or improve the style of play of United, who continued to suffer throughout the first 45 minutes.

Four minutes before full time Carlos Tevez made Old Trafford explode in a wall of noise with a late strike that appeared to have sealed the match and given United a hardly deserved 2-1 over the battling visitors.

With the home support relieved and happy with what looked like yet another late United victory, to the extent that some fans headed for the turnstiles to avoid the post-match traffic jams, Argentinian midfielder Mariano Gonzalez drove home a last-minute equaliser to dampen the enthusiasm of everyone at the Theatre of Dreams and remind the Red Devil supporters of their team’s loss to Porto in 2004.

Posted on April 8, 2009 | Filed Under Football