Man Utd’s best and worst players in rollercoaster Porto draw
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 had United lost again, conceding three goals for the second time in five days.
His team led 2-0 at one stage and it looked as though it was 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 seen all too often in recent seasons happened and United trailed 3-2 until Maguire intervened.
Using 90min’s player ratings from the game, these are the best and worst in a United shirt…
Marcus Rashford & Rasmus Hojlund – 7/10
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring in this one by doing what he does best. So often criticised for looking like he’d rather be anywhere else, the United winger took the game to Porto from the earliest exchanges and was rewarded with the breakthrough goal when he drove into the box from the left flank, used skill to beat his marker, and unleashed a shot.
There was an element of luck because it was poor goalkeeping from Euro 2024 star Diogo Costa, but it’s what Rashford is good at and he should do more of it.
He remained involved, setting up Rasmus Hojlund for United’s second goal at the 20-minute mark with a perfectly weighted pass into the space behind Porto’s defence. But fans were left scratching their heads when he didn’t reappear for the second half, despite being the first half’s biggest threat. It was 2-2 by then and United needed more, so nobody could believe it when Ten Hag explained after the game it was a decision with rotation for the weekend in mind.
This was also a big night for Hojlund. United’s second goal was his first of the season, coming on his first start of the season after picking up an injury during the summer. Like Rashford, the Dane did what he is good at, bulldozing his way into dangerous positions to create problems for Porto.
The goal he scored was exactly that. First, Hojlund won a header in midfield from Andre Onana’s punt forward, knocking it down to Christian Eriksen. While Eriksen brought the ball forward and fed Rashford, United’s No.9 was sprinting to get into the box, with the pass then coming for him to lash a shot at goal. Again, there was some luck because Costa was dreadful for most of the night. But it was a case of ‚if you don’t buy a ticket for the raffle you’ve got no chance of winning‘.
Matthijs de Ligt & Lisandro Martinez – 3/10
It was, to be blunt, a centre-back disasterclass for Manchester United. Both were awful.
Lisandro Martinez was culpable for the first Porto goal when he didn’t anticipate the danger lurking when Onana prevented Noussair Mazraoui from putting the ball into his own net. Pepe was more alert and far quicker to react, getting his reward by turning in the rebound, leaving the United defender on his heels and desperately trying to grab a piece of his shirt.
For Porto’s go-ahead third goal he was absolutely left for dead by Pepe’s pace, allowing the winger to pull it back for Samu Omorodion to fire the hosts into the lead. Martinez was a shadow of the ‚butcher‘ that United fans quickly came to adore during his debut season two years ago.
De Ligt, who was ripped to shreds live on Sky Sports by Jamie Carragher on Monday night for his questionable positioning against Tottenham the day before, wasn’t any better.
The Dutchman was bullied by Samu when Porto equalised, done by movement and strength in the six-yard box as the striker powered a header beyond Onana. Again, it was movement, nothing even that complicated, from Samu that beat De Ligt for Porto’s third. With Pepe having burnt Martinez and delivered the cutback into the middle, Samu simply got across the front of him to finish.
Ten Hag eventually removed both centre-backs in a double substitution with just over ten minutes left. It was preferrable to have a 36-year-old Jonny Evans on the pitch than the £100m pair. That change also saw Maguire thrown on, so it did actually change the outcome of the game.