Fiesty Porto Spoil Man Utd Plans
Manchester United put in a disappointing performance at Old Trafford against a fired-up Porto side on Tuesday in their Champions League quarter-final first-leg, drawing 2-2 with the Portuguese giants and leaving themselves with a lot of work to do for the second leg.
The Red Devils made a disastrous start to the match as Porto struck a valuable away goal in the fourth minute. A poor clearance by Jonny Evans went straight to Cristian Rodrigues, who made space for himself before putting the ball into the bottom-far corner of the goal.
The Portuguese outfit gave their lead away cheaply only 11 minutes later, gifting Wayne Rooney with a simple goal. A horrific back-pass from Bruno Alves found the United striker, who calmly waited for the Porto 'keeper to commit before easing the ball into the open goal.
After the break United seemed to find their rhythm, creating chances and increasing the pressure on the visitors with dominant possession.
Rooney came close to scoring his second when his ambitious chip was athletically saved by Helton in the Porto goal, before the 'keeper was again asked to keep his side on level pegging by saving a decent header from Nemanja Vidic.
Super-sub Carlos Tevez gave United the lead for the first time in the match when he powered home Rooney's flick-on with five minutes left in the match.
However, Porto kept gunning for their second away goal and were rewarded in the 89th minute. Lucho Gonzalez crossed from the right and somehow the Red Devils left substitute Mariano Gonzalez completely unmarked at the far post, which he appreciated as he sneaked the ball past Edwin Van der Sar to equalize.
(Soccer365.com)
