Harry Maguire saved 10-man Manchester United from another embarrassing defeat on Thursday as they drew 3-3 with Porto in the Europa League. The best and worst of the Red Devils were on display with Marcus Rashford showing his class to have them cruising with a two-goal lead. Nothing is ever simple with Ten Hag’s team, though, and their defensive weakness was completely exposed as Porto fought back to lead before Maguire’s late header.
United were off to a perfect start when Rashford cut through two Porto players with a quick move and beat Diogo Costa, who should have done better, just seven minutes in. The England international continued to poke at Porto’s back line and soon created another goal, playing a perfectly-weighted pass to Rasmus Hojlund to score, with Costa again not covering himself in glory.
Despite the crushing blows, the Dragons weren’t quite slain and stunned their visitors when Andre Onana’s save fell perfectly for Brazilian forward Pepe to finish just before the half-hour mark. Seven minutes later, Samu Omorodion got ahead of Matthijs de Ligt to head in the equaliser.
The Portuguese side started better in the second half, too, and it took less than five minutes to complete the comeback as the two scorers combined – Pepe cutting back for Samu, who once again beat De Ligt to the ball.
The situation got even more farcical for United as Bruno Fernandes was sent off in the 81st minute, leaving them looking doomed until Maguire got on the end of Eriksen’s corner to level it. Now four games without a win, the pressure keeps building on the Dutch coach, who will have to explain why his team suffered such an implosion.
GOAL rates United’s players from Estadio do Dragao…
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AFP
Goalkeeper & Defence
Andre Onana (6/10):
Did well to keep out one shot but could do nothing about the follow up for Porto’s first. Made couple of saves otherwise.
Noussair Mazraoui (6/10):
Ended up heading to Onana for Porto’s first but was good in the air overall in a decent display.
Matthijs de Ligt (5/10):
Beaten to the ball by Samu on two of Porto’s goals. Had a lot of trouble with the striker.
Lisandro Martinez (5/10):
An important block to stop a Samu shot but was caught trailing Pepe for his goal and had a few shaky moments.
Diogo Dalot (6/10):
Was a bit slack in the build up to the hosts’ first goal and gave the ball away too many times, but had some good moments defensively and going forward.
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AFP
Midfield
Casemiro (4/10):
Another abysmal display as he seems to have no sense of danger, leaving the back four in trouble.
Christian Eriksen (7/10):
Passed to Rashford before the first two goals and had a hand in many United attacks before his cross to Maguire.
Bruno Fernandes (5/10):
Put in some dangerous balls as he tried to create something, but ended up getting a red card for a high boot.
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Attack
Amad Diallo (6/10):
Was always in space and passed the ball well but see a great deal of the ball.
Rasmus Hojlund (7/10):
Made some good runs behind the Porto defence and took his goal well.
Marcus Rashford (8/10):
A great 45 minutes. A lovely run for the first goal, nice pass for the second – another example of the quality he offers, as fleeting as it may be these days. Unfortunately, taken off at half-time.
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Subs & Manager
Alejandro Garnacho (6/10):
Tried to be a direct threat with a whopping eight shots.
Joshua Zirkzee (5/10):
Hardly got on the ball in his 20 minutes on the field.
Antony (5/10):
Had two long range shots after replacing Amad.
Harry Maguire (7/10):
Saved his team with a strong header to make it 3-3.
Jonny Evans (6/10):
Helped keep United stable at the back late on after going a man down.
Erik ten Hag (3/10):
His team had a bright start but their collapse was unbelievable. The midfield and defence are easy to cut through and he is running out of excuses as the terrible performances continue.
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