Manchester United had a stoppage-time header from substitute Harry Maguire to thank for rescuing a draw against Porto at the Estadio do Dragao on Thursday night.
As a direct result, manager Erik ten Hag is under slightly less pressure than he was about to be if United lost again, conceding three goals for the second time in five days.
His side led 2-0 at one stage and it looked to be a performance to silence the critics, at least until the weekend when it’s a trip to high-flying Aston Villa. But the kind of collapse that has been seen all too often in recent seasons happened and United were 3-2 up until Maguire intervened.
using 90 minutesplayer ratings of of the match, these are the best and worst in a United shirt…
Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund – 7/10
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring in this one doing what he does best. Often criticized for looking like he’d rather be elsewhere, the United winger took the game to Porto from the opening exchanges and was rewarded with the breakaway goal when he broke into the box from the left flank, used the ability to beat your score. , and fired a shot.
There was an element of luck as it was poor goalkeeping by Euro 2024 star Diogo Costa, but that’s what Rashford is good at and should do more of.
He remained involved, setting up Rasmus Hojlund for United’s second goal on 20 minutes with a perfectly weighted pass into the space behind Porto’s defence. But fans were left scratching their heads when he didn’t turn up for the second half despite being the biggest threat in the first half. It was 2-2 at the time and United needed more, so nobody could believe it when Ten Hag explained after the game that it was a decision with the rotation in mind for the weekend.
This was also a big night for Hojlund. United’s second goal was his first of the season, in his first start of the season after suffering an injury during the summer. Like Rashford, the Dane did what he does well, working his way into dangerous positions to cause Porto problems.
The goal he scored was exactly that. First, Hojlund won a header in midfield from point-forward Andre Onana, knocking it past Christian Eriksen. As Eriksen advanced the ball and fed Rashford, the United number 9 was sprinting into the box, and the pass was coming for him to slot home a shot. Again, there was a bit of luck involved as Costa was terrible for most of the night. But it was a case of “if you don’t buy a raffle ticket you have no chance of winning”.
Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez – 3/10
It was, to put it bluntly, a central disaster for Manchester United. Both were awful.
Lisandro Martinez was at fault for Porto’s opener when he failed to foresee the danger lurking when Onana prevented Noussair Mazraoui from putting the ball into his own net. Pepe was more alert and much quicker to react, getting his reward by turning on the rebound, leaving the United defender on his heels and desperately trying to grab a piece of his shirt.
For Porto’s third goal, Pepe’s pace left him absolutely dead, allowing the winger to pull it back for Samu Omorodion to put the score on the scoreboard. Martinez was a shadow of the “butcher” United fans quickly came to adore during his debut season two years ago.
De Ligt, who was smashed live Sky Sports Jamie Carragher on Monday night for his questionable positioning against Tottenham the previous day was no better.
The Dutchman was hounded by Samu as Porto equalised, done by movement and strength in the six-yard box, as the striker curled a header beyond Ona. Again, it was Samu’s not-so-complicated move that beat De Ligt for Porto’s third. With Pepe having burned Martínez and made the cut down the middle, Samu simply went past to finish.
Ten Hag eventually removed the two centre-backs in a double substitution with just over ten minutes remaining. It was preferable to have a 36-year-old Jonny Evans on the pitch than the £100m pair. This change also saw Maguire sent on so it really changed the outcome of the game.
