United suffer setback in tie against Porto

Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged Manchester United to keep their Champions League title defence alive by becoming the first English team to win in Porto.

Ferguson’s holders face an uphill struggle to reach the semi-finals after being held to a 2-2 draw by the Portuguese champions in Tuesday’s last eight first leg clash at Old Trafford.

Porto’s two away goals mean United need to win or earn an unlikely high-scoring draw at the Dragao Stadium next Wednesday to stay in the competition.

Ferguson admits it is a daunting prospect, especially given the woeful record of Premier League teams in Porto.

Arsenal lost 2-0 at the Dragao this season, while United have failed to return from Porto with a win twice under Ferguson and Liverpool and Chelsea have also been frustrated there.

“It’s a difficult job now because no British team has won in Porto,” Ferguson said. “We have to win the game. We’ve been good at firsts at this club so this is an occasion when we can be first again. We have a job to do.”

United looked to have earned a barely deserved victory when Carlos Tevez stabbed United into the lead with five minutes to play at Old Trafford.

But Porto substitute Mariano equalised four minutes later to give the visitors just reward for an impressive display and leave United almost certainly needing to become the first English side to win at Porto’s stadium next week.

Jesualdo Ferreira’s side had gone ahead early in the first half through Cristian Rodriguez and could have been further in front before a calamitous mistake from Bruno Alves set up Wayne Rooney’s equaliser.

Not for the first time in recent weeks, United looked nervous in defence and short of urgency in attack. Now they face a testing trip to the Dragao Stadium next Wednesday knowing only a victory or an extremely high-scoring draw will keep alive their hopes of retaining the Champions League trophy.

“The result was about right. First half they were the better side but second half we improved and got more possession,” Ferguson said.

“But getting the (second) goal the way they did – we should really have defended that. It was a bad goal to lose.

“It’s been a hard two days for them but they were lacking in concentration.

“You get a 2-1 lead with four or five minutes left, you really should see it out. It’s a difficult game now in Porto, no question of that.”

Ferreira added: “In the first half we were the team that attacked more and had more corners. In the second half we were able to keep out United’s attacks.

“We had a good reaction to United’s second goal. It is a joy to see my team play like this.”

After staging a dramatic late fightback to beat Aston Villa on Sunday, Ferguson had expected the momentum from Federico Macheda’s winner to give his players enough adrenaline to ignore their aching limbs as they returned to action 48 hours later.

He couldn’t have been more wrong. Although they enjoying a record-breaking run of cleansheets earlier this season, United’s defence has sprung a few leaks in recent weeks.

They looked no more secure in the opening minutes here. Lisandro Lopez, Porto’s Argentine striker, almost took advantage as he sprinted past Jonny Evans and forced Edwin van der Sar into a sprawling save.

Porto attacked United’s soft centre again in the fourth minute and this time they were able to punish another sloppy piece of defending.

When Cristiano Ronaldo lost the ball, Lucho Gonzalez crossed towards Rodriguez, but Evans should have cleared easily. Instead he scuffed only as far as Rodriguez, who drove a fine low strike past van der Sar into the far corner.

United had been far too careless in possession but they sparked into life when Ronaldo met John O’Shea’s cross with a header that Helton pushed away for a corner.

That hardly amounted to a ceaseless assault however, which made Alves’s spectacular implosion in the 15th minute so hard to understand.

Under no pressure at all, the Porto defender passed back to Helton without looking. Alves hadn’t noticed Rooney lurking behind him and the United striker gratefully seized the gift before clipping a deft finish past Helton.

Despite that lifeline, there was still no sign that United had found their rhythm.

While United laboured, Porto looked impressive whenever they went forward and van der Sar was at full stretch to turn over a long-range shot from Raul Meireles.

After watching such a lacklustre effort from his players, Ferguson must have been tempted to give them the full ‘hairdryer’ treatment at half-time.

United responded at last and Rooney produced a superb chip from 30 yards that Helton just managed to tip over. From the resulting corner Vidic headed goalwards but Helton made a brilliant stop to deny the Serbian.

The Portuguese champions kept their nerve and Lisandro’s skimming strike needed an alert stop from van der Sar before Aly Cissokho tested the United keeper from long-range.

This was no way for United to celebrate their 100th home game in the European Cup and Ferguson made his last two changes, opting to leave Italian sensation Marcheda on the bench and send on Tevez and Gary Neville instead.

Tevez made an instant impact. In the 85th minute Rooney flicked on Neville’s throw and Tevez showed great determination to turn the ball home from close-range.

But Porto refused to accept defeat and staged the kind of dramatic finale that United have made their trademark.

Lisandro swept over an 89th minute cross that O’Shea could only help on to Mariano and the Porto substitute stabbed his shot over van der Sar. It was no more than Porto deserved.