In the early morning of October 4 (Vietnam time), Manchester United visited Porto in the second round of the Europa League 2024-2025. This is considered the first of two matches for coach Erik ten Hag to save his own seat.
The Dutch coach arranged Rasmus Hojlund in the striker position, while the central midfielders are two experienced names - Casemiro and Christian Eriksen.
Knowing the current situation of Man United, the home team entered the match at the highest possible speed. Continuously applying pressure, fiercely fighting and also quickly showing tactical intentions by crossing into the penalty area, mainly from the right wing.
However, the Portuguese representative was doused with cold water, not just once but twice. In the 7th minute, Marcus Rashford broke through from the left wing, passed 2 defenders and shot into the near corner. It was also quite lucky that goalkeeper Diogo Costa did not block decisively for Man United to score.
In a similar way, in the 20th minute, Rashford crossed and Hojlund appeared in the penalty area, finishing decisively from a tight angle, doubling the gap for the "Red Devils".
This was Man United's best start to the season, better than the 3-0 or 7-0 win over Southampton against Barnsley, when the second goal only came in the 41st and 35th minutes.
Of course, Man United fans soon thought about Ten Hag being saved according to the exciting scenario, so that he could continue to complete the task with the next away match at Aston Villa in the Premier League this weekend.
However, the two goals are still not the difference that can defeat Porto, especially when Man United does not show the "collective" aspect in the way they are deployed. Despite the determined strategy, Porto had 2 equalizers in just 7 minutes (27 to This) by Pepe - the Brazilian striker, and Samuhe Aghowa.
Aghehowa and Bruno Fernandes received yellow cards in the first half, Rashford could not continue in the second half due to injury.
After a 5-minute break, Aghehowa scored again, helping Porto lead 3-2. After taking the lead, Porto almost gave the ball control to the English representative, with 62% of their ball possession and finishing 18 times.
But interestingly, the goal did not come when the "Red Devils" had enough players on the field. In the 81st minute, Bruno received a second yellow card and had to leave the field.
It seemed that Man United's chance of getting a point would be swallowed, but in the first minute of the second half's extra time, Harry Maguire - came on to replace Lisandro Martinez in the 78th minute, bounced high to head the ball from a corner kick, equalizing the score at 3-3.
This is Man United's second consecutive draw in the Europa League this season, and also the fourth consecutive match without a win away from home in the European Cup, despite scoring 3 goals.
In other notable matches, Tottenham won 2-1 at Ferencvaros, Ajax - Ten Hag's former team, drew 1-1 at Slavia Prague when there was also a player with a red card, AS Roma lost 0-1 at Elfsborg, Lyon won 4-1 at Rangers.
On the current rankings, the 5 teams that have won all 2 matches are Lazio, Lyon, Tottenham, FCSB and Anderlecht. Man United has 2 points, ranked 21st.
