Manchester United have beaten FC Porto 1-0 in their Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd-leg at the Estádio do Dragão on Wednesday evening, with a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo giving Sir Alex Ferguson’s side a 3-2 aggregate win to seal a place against fellow Premier League rivals Arsenal in the Semi-Finals of the competition.
The aggregate scores were level at 2-2 after the first-leg at Old Trafford, with FC Porto carrying the advantage with their two away-goals, as both sides look to seal a place in the Champions League Semi-Finals against either Arsenal or Villarreal.
The aggregate scores were level at 2-2 after the first-leg at Old Trafford, with FC Porto carrying the advantage with their two away-goals, as both sides look to seal a place in the Champions League Semi-Finals against either Arsenal or Villarreal.
Porto didn’t let the early goal affect them and began to make more of an impact in the match with shots from Bruno Alves and Lisandro Lopez both testing Edwin Van der Sar, but suffered a setback at the half-hour mark after Lucho Gonzalez was stretchered off the pitch.
While Porto were temporarily down to 10-men, Ryan Giggs almost doubled the score-line, but Helton did well to deny the Welshman.
Nemanja Vidic had a great chance to score, but the Serbian defender headed over the Porto goal, when the goal was at his mercy, while Dimitar Berbatov had a shot saved.
The first-half finished 1-0 to Manchester United, but Porto threatened consistently on the break and the tie was by no means settled.
Raul Meireles and Hulk both saw shots sail over the crossbar early in the second-half, which was curtailed by a heavy spell of rain.
Rooney had a tame shot at goal easily saved by Helton, before Hulk saw his free-kick saved well by Van der Sar, while Rolando’s shot went wide of goal.
Porto best chance of equalising came from Lisandro Lopez in the 85th-minute. Mariano managfed to get past Nani and his low cross found Lisandro on the edge of the six-yard box, but the shot went straight to at Van der Sar, much to the relief of United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The single goal from Cristiano Ronaldo was enough to see Sir Alex Ferguson's side progress to the last-four, where they face Arsenal in the Semi-Finals of the competition.
FC Porto v Manchester United Champions League Quarter Final 2nd-leg Full Teamsheets:
FC Porto Team: Helton, Sapunaru (Costa 80), Rolando, Bruno Alves, Cissokho, Lucho Gonzalez (Mariano Gonzalez, 31), Fernando, Raul Meireles, Lopez, Hulk, Rodriguez (Farias, 64).
FC Porto Substitutes Not Used: Nuno, Stepanov, Guarin, Madrid.
Man Utd Team: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Carrick, Anderson (Scholes 78), Rooney, Berbatov (Nani 68), Ronaldo.
from:www.premiershiplatest.com
