‘Manchester United were haggard with defensive mistakes by
the 90th minute, when Shaun Wright-Phillips kept the ball in
play as it rolled along the paint of the right touchline,
moved inside and, with Wes Brown barring his path, directed
an angled chip over the head of the goalkeeper Tim Howard
and in off the crossbar.
‘When Paul Scholes reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 35th
minute from a Ryan Giggs pass, you half-expected that Kevin
Keegan's team would be overwhelmed. The match was strewn
with opportunities then and City have no track record of
doughty resistance. They might have been in a dishevelled
state at the interval.
‘Ronaldo alone had hit the woodwork twice. He could have had
an instant equaliser to Robbie Fowler's third-minute opener
when David James blocked a Scholes attempt before flicking
the ball into his path. The Portuguese rolled his shot
against a post. Later, in the 37th minute, he almost
levelled the score when his superb, dipping drive came off
the crossbar.
‘The worst aspect for Ferguson of this failure may be that
it cannot be explained by glib reference to Rio Ferdinand's
self-imposed suspension. Missed as he is, and unwise as it
was of the manager not to purchase a seasoned replacement
such as Gareth Southgate in the transfer window, Ferguson
was let down by people he can usually trust.
‘In terms of playing time, only a few moments separated one
misjudgment by Phil Neville that led to Porto's disastrous
equaliser and the next that saw City move ahead here.
Instead of attacking Richard Dunne's long throw-in that had
been headed on by Antoine Sibierski, he awaited
developments. They took the form of the right-foot touch
from Fowler that nipped the ball away from the full-back and
the left-foot one that tucked it home in the third minute.
‘Progress was far more difficult to achieve thereafter, but
it took another mistake to polish off United. Mikaël
Silvestre's touch was crude as he attempted to control a
through-ball from Bosvelt and it slithered off his foot.
Trevor Sinclair was predatory, bustling in behind the
Frenchman to clip a shot home in the 73rd minute. United
were doomed to one of their most dispiriting experiences.’
Telegraph: