Match report: Porto 3 Man Utd 3

FC Porto 3 Manchester United 3

Thursday 03 October 2024 22:00

Manchester United rescued a point at FC Porto in the Europa League, thanks to Harry Maguire's stoppage-time header, in an entertaining game.

Erik ten Hag's side twice broke through the defences of home keeper and skipper Diogo Costa, through Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund, the Dane marking his first start of the season with a goal.

Back came the Dragons to level before the break, courtesy of headers by Pepe and Samu Omorodion and, shortly after the restart, Omorodion's second looked to be inflicting a disappointing defeat.

Bruno Fernandes was dismissed for the second game running, even if his red card against Tottenham was overturned, and with the visitors down to 10 men, all appeared lost. However, there was resolve shown to earn another draw in the competition, following the home clash with FC Twente, as substitute Harry Maguire again showed his aerial prowess from set-pieces with a header in the dying seconds to make it 3-3.

FIRST HALF – TOPSY-TURVY OPENING

You could not take your eyes off the first half, and it was the Reds who drew first blood after weathering the early storm. Porto pressed from the start, forcing Andre Onana into action inside a couple of minutes when Galeno fired in a shot, but were undone in only the seventh minute. Christian Eriksen fed Rashford and the left winger danced into the box with purpose. A low drive was too much for a weak right hand from Costa.

Boosted by some valiant blocks at the other end, Ten Hag's men continued to threaten going forwards and the Porto defence twice almost put through their own net in quick succession. Ze Pedro's touch to a Rashford cross looked like going in and, from the corner, a clearance cannoned off a defender and landed off target.

A few minutes later, it was 2-0 as Eriksen and Rashford set up Hojlund, again in the left-hand channel. The Denmark striker's shot was ineffectively handled by Costa and the ball clearly crept over the line before being hooked away. Another enterprising run by Rashford led to Costa's strong hand diverting away, but United were looking good.

However, the mood turned when Noussair Mazraoui headed towards his own goal, forcing Onana into evasive action. The ball dropped for Pepe, who was alert to the rebound, and the Brazil winger halved the deficit. Seven minutes later, Omorodion planted a stooping header high into the net by ensuring he was first to a teasing centre by Joao Mario and we were back to square one.

Despite the shift in momentum, Amad had an attempt that deflected out for a corner, Costa smuggled a Casemiro effort behind after Hojlund got a touch to a Bruno Fernandes cross and yet another bold dribble by Rashford unfortunately ended with him being crowded out when electing to shoot.

It was entertaining, yet frustrating, as we entered the interval with the score level.

SECOND HALF – A POINT IN PORTO

The loss of Rashford for the second half was a blow, considering his output, and an early scare was not heeded when Franciso Moura went clean through to force a save out of Onana.

Soon afterwards, Pepe burst past Lisandro Martinez to deliver a telling cross from the right and Omorodion pounced to fire in emphatically for his second of the match.

There was still plenty of time to recover but substitute Alejandro Garnacho and Noussair Mazroaui were kept out by Costa, with Garnacho on to the follow-up for the second effort but unable to convert from a tight angle. Yet Porto also retained a threat and a defensive muddle allowed Omorodion the chance for a hat-trick, only for Onana to push it away to safety.

Ten Hag introduced Joshua Zirkzee and Antony but we had little luck in front of goal as Matthijs de Ligt's header was straight at Costa and Casemiro's header hit Zirkzee. All looked lost when, 10 minutes from time, Fernandes tried to reach a Garnacho centre with a raised boot and it was judged to be dangerous play, with Nehuen Perez down. A second yellow card was shown and the skipper was dismissed for a successive match.

Deniz Gul could have wrapped it up but found Onana in his way and the stop proved vital. Garnacho forced a brilliant save out of Costa, showing his true colours, but the 10 men kept plugging away. After another Garnacho shot won a corner, Christian Eriksen's injury time set-piece was headed home by substitute Maguire, brought on with Jonny Evans in a reshuffle for the last 12 minutes.

Breathless stuff – and a good point in the circumstances.

MATCH DETAILS

Porto: Costa; Joao Maria (Gul 78), Ze Pedro, Perez, Moura; Gonzalez, Eustaquio (Vieira 77), Varela (Namaso 90); Pepe (M. Fernandes 62), Omorodion, Galeno.

Subs not used: Ramos, Djalo, Franco, Grujic, Jaime, Sousa, Borges, Mora.

Scorers: Pepe 27, Omorodion 34, 50.

Booked: Omorodion.

Scorers: Rashford 7, Hojlund 20, Maguire 90+1.

Booked: B. Fernandes.

Sent off: B. Fernandes.

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