United held, Arsenal edge ahead

United held, Arsenal edge ahead
(FIFA.com) Tuesday 7 April 2009
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Written off by many before a ball was even kicked, Porto stunned Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening, collecting a 2-2 draw in the stadium where the European champions remain unbeaten in 22 UEFA Champions League outings. The hosts may even feel fortunate to have avoided defeat, despite having led two minutes from time, and can expect a tough examination in Portugal next week against a side that judged the away leg to perfection.

In Spain, meanwhile, Villarreal also enjoyed long periods of domination in their own contest with English opposition, courtesy of a rapidly mobile style of play reminiscent of the Spanish national team. The Yellow Submarine failed to match their initial intensity in the second half, however, and missing the influential Santiago Cazorla had to settle for a 1-1 stalemate against an Arsenal side approaching their best since the return of Cesc Fabregas.

Manchester United 2-2 Porto
Goals: Wayne Rooney 15, Carlos Tevez 85 (Manchester United); Cristian Rodriguez 4, Mariano Gonzalez 89 (Porto)

Barely 48 hours after their hard-fought 3-2 win over Aston Villa, Manchester United again looked vulnerable as they conceded a shock early goal to a Porto side clearly eager to get forward. The visitors pressed high up the pitch and made good use of both flanks. That approach paid off as early as the fifth minute, when Lucho Gonzalez pounced on a poor clearance from the United defence and Cristian Rodriguez swept the ball past Edwin van der Sar with his left foot.

Employing Wayne Rooney as a lone forward, the European champions found themselves penned into their own half and did what they could to keep their opponents at bay, watching as Porto's forwards landed five of their eight shots on target in the opening ten minutes. Even Rooney's opportunistic equaliser failed to rouse Sir Alex Ferguson's men into action.

Instead, the second half began much like the first, prompting the United manager to make three changes, including the introduction of Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs as his side switched to a 4-4-2 formation. For their part, Porto kept up the pressure on the Premier League titleholders, with the dangerous Hulk causing United's rearguard all manner of problems.

Despite their issues at the back, the home side went ahead following a clever Rooney back-heel which allowed Tevez to bury the ball with conviction. That proved a false dawn for the Old Trafford faithful though, with Porto responding in positive fashion and gaining just reward when Lisandro Lopez fed team-mate Mariano Gonzalez, who finished from close range as Van der Sar closed him down. Second best for much of the night, United will now likely need a victory at Porto's Dragon Stadium to progress.

The key player
Luis Lucho Gonzalez pulls the strings for this Porto side, thanks to an excellent technique and a knack for taking possession of the ball almost every time his team get forward. The starting point for the majority of his team's sorties, the Argentinian feeds Porto's more attacking players with pinpoint passes, confounds the opposition by switching the play and never hesitates when presented with a goalscoring opportunity. Having struck nine times in the Portuguese championship and twice more in the Champions League, he is clearly as comfortable in front of goal as he is orchestrating Porto's ventures forward.

The turning point
Rooney's goal after 15 minutes, during a period of intense Porto pressure, allowed Ferguson's charges to keep themselves in the contest despite the major cracks appearing in their defence. The England international pounced on an error by Bruno Alves, who no doubt suffered a burst of overconfidence as he attempted a pass back to his goalkeeper without noticing United's burly striker waiting to pounce.

Villarreal 1-1 Arsenal
Goals: Marcos Senna 10 (Villarreal); Emmanuel Adebayor 66 (Arsenal)

The home side took this encounter by the scruff of the neck in the first half, outplaying their visitors with a brand of football characterised by movement, one-touch play and team-work. For all their superiority, though, it took a powerful long-range shot from Marcos Senna to put Villarreal ahead in the tie.

Arsenal wisely elected to weather the storm as Villarreal surged with energy after opening the scoring, and the Londoners gradually clawed their way back into the match thanks to fit-again midfielder Cesc Fabregas. Turning the screw as the Spanish side began to show signs of fatigue after an hour, the Gunners stepped up their pace and earned their reward when Emmanuel Adebayor levelled the scores with a spectacular finish.

Villarreal attempted to wrest back control of the game in the closing minutes, but Arsenal held on to secure a valuable result that will put all the pressure on the visitors in the return leg.

The key player
Villarreal captain Marcos Senna popped up everywhere across the middle of the park. One of the world's finest in a holding role, the UEFA EURO 2008 winner took possession of an impressive number of balls and never stopped coordinating his team-mates, most notably preventing his fellow midfielders from dropping back too deep. At the other end of the pitch, he gave a thrilling demonstration of his shooting prowess with a fantastic goal guided into the corner of the net with the outside of his right foot from 30 metres out. Having begun the same move by dispossessing Samir Nasri, Senna showed the breadth of his talent in the space of a few seconds, even if his accuracy then deserted him somewhat after the break.

The turning point
With 66 minutes on the clock, Fabregas made the most of a rare moment of freedom from the attentions of Joan Capdevila to send a perfectly weighted pass to Adebayor. The Togolese striker chested the ball with his back to goal and swivelled acrobatically to unleash a breathtaking bicycle kick that left goalkeeper Diego Lopez no chance and could well have opened the door to the semi-finals for Arsenal.