An electric game exposed the reigning champions against their free-spirited and scintillating opposition, writes Goal.com's Sulmaan Ahmad.
Apr 7, 2009 5:49:13 PM
Not so much to deny back-to-back Champions Leagues or quintuples, nor because the Premier League teams must be defied for the good of football or any other such envy-inspired ideological reasoning, but because from the first minute to the last, this was a victory for football.
Porto, very much the only strong team in a comparatively weak Portuguese league, were seen as a 'gimme' for the reigning champions. And yet, they came to Old Trafford brimming with unadulterated panache and a vast amount of elegance - certainly more than almost anyone had expected.
For the entirety of this European campaign, it has been asserted that the Premier League is a stone too strong and a second too fast for the foreigners, but Porto played the champions of England, Europe and the world off the park at times, and it was the Prem's finest who struggled to track the unremitted passing and movement of their Portuguese visitors.
After the embarrassment that was Sporting CP's obliteration at the hands of Bayern Munich in the last round, this Porto performance was a boost that could do proud the whole of Portugal proud. That applies even if many - Benfica fans in particular - may lament their champions qualifying for the competition as they did, after a corruption scandal threatened to see them thrown out altogether.
Sir Alex Ferguson has for several weeks been touting Barcelona as the main threat to his side's supremacy and it's no wonder that today, up against a Porto side very much in the mold of the Catalans, his side looked second best for so long.
Make no mistake about it: the 4-3-3, the free-roaming forwards, the creativity, the flying full-back, even the customary defensive blunder that tarnished the end result. The players may not all be quite in the same weight class, but this was Barca all over.
The front three of Cristian Rodriguez, Lisandro Lopez and the incredible Hulk (had to get that out of the way) were irresistible. Their interchanging was as seamless as it was ceaseless and their combination of speed and power gave United's defense a series of headaches.
There may have been no Rio Ferdinand and no Wes Brown, but John O'Shea and particularly Jonny Evans have been brilliant deputizing for large parts of this season, so there can be no excuses on the part of the Red Devils.
Lucho Gonzalez was the Master of Puppets, pulling all the right strings in midfield while Fernando, though understated, was perhaps the best player on the park off the back of immense defensive midfield work.
At the back, their best man in Bruno Alves reached a level of stupidity previously reserved for ex-American presidents when his back-pass gifted United an equalizer against the run of play. That may have put off his alleged suitors, Barcelona and Real Madrid, but Cissokho's boundless energy and promising crosses from left-back will have attracted plenty of attention, particularly from the Premier League.
What best encapsulated Porto's resplendency was the awkward silence that engulfed Old Trafford for large parts of the game. They knew not how to react to such an incredible performance from a visiting team.
The end-to-end electricity in the game - the first leg of a Champions League knockout - was like something from a bygone era. You just don't see it anymore. For sure, the line-ups suggested that this game could have goals, but no one well acquainted with the high stakes and tentative tactics of modern day knockout football at the highest level could have realistically expected anything quite like this. But what a breath of fresh air it was.
Porto proved more than a match for the champions, and this was no Mourinho curse of 2004 rearing its head, it was all down to the 11 men out there, the two subs and their coach. Their real test will now be in taking home the tie on their own patch against a revitalized and no doubt determined United side.
So: who's your money on now?
Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com
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