FIRST HALF – TOPSY-TURVY OPENING

You could not take your eyes off the first half, and it was the Reds who drew first blood after weathering the early storm. Porto pressed from the start, forcing Andre Onana into action inside a couple of minutes when Galeno fired in a shot, but were undone in only the seventh minute. Christian Eriksen fed Rashford and the left winger danced into the box with purpose. A low drive was too much for a weak right hand from Costa.

Boosted by some valiant blocks at the other end, Ten Hag’s men continued to threaten going forwards and the Porto defence twice almost put through their own net in quick succession. Ze Pedro’s touch to a Rashford cross looked like going in and, from the corner, a clearance cannoned off a defender and landed off target.

A few minutes later, it was 2-0 as Eriksen and Rashford set up Hojlund, again in the left-hand channel. The Denmark striker’s shot was ineffectively handled by Costa and the ball clearly crept over the line before being hooked away. Another enterprising run by Rashford led to Costa’s strong hand diverting away, but United were looking good.

However, the mood turned when Noussair Mazraoui headed towards his own goal, forcing Onana into evasive action. The ball dropped for Pepe, who was alert to the rebound, and the Brazil winger halved the deficit. Seven minutes later, Omorodion planted a stooping header high into the net by ensuring he was first to a teasing centre by Joao Mario and we were back to square one.

Despite the shift in momentum, Amad had an attempt that deflected out for a corner, Costa smuggled a Casemiro effort behind after Hojlund got a touch to a Bruno Fernandes cross and yet another bold dribble by Rashford unfortunately ended with him being crowded out when electing to shoot.

It was entertaining, yet frustrating, as we entered the interval with the score level.

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THE TEAMS

Porto: Costa (c); Joao Maria, Ze Pedro, Perez, Moura; Gonzalez, Eustaquio, Varela; Pepe, Omorodion, Galeno.

Substitutes: Ramos, Djalo, Grujic, Vieira, Sousa, Jaime, Namaso, Franco, Gul, M. Fernandes, Borges, Mora.

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The fact Bruno Fernandes was incorrectly sent off in the first half, with the Reds a goal down, made the task a mountainous one at the weekend but the skipper is no longer banned domestically, and will be relishing the return to his homeland in the 20:00 BST kick-off.

Using the mood around Carrington as fuel to kickstart our European campaign, on the back of the opening home draw with FC Twente, is something that Erik is demanding, as he also had to field questions about talks behind the scenes with the senior sporting staff.

“As always, when we are not winning, we are very disappointed,” he said at a press conference delayed due to fog around Porto Airport. “Of course, we are mad with ourselves, especially when you see a game like Sunday also, after all, we had to play so long with 10 players and, after, it’s overturned, the red card.

“It gives frustration because it’s such a long time to play with 10, it’s never to your advantage. It had a real impact in the game. We have to deal with it. We are mad but now, from the madness, we have to get motivation and deal with the next game.”

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“I don’t know if it’s the first game, we’re hoping for [it], but I can’t, in this moment, tell this with 100 per cent security.

“But, yeah, from now on, we have two-and-a-half weeks to work to that point. And, shortly after, he’ll be there.

“Tyrell is making good progress on the pitch but has to make the step to full team training.”

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