Ferguson and United must make history to beat Porto

Published on Wednesday 8 April 2009 09:59

SIR ALEX FERGUSON has set his side the task of becoming the first English team to defeat FC Porto on their own ground after Manchester United were held to a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last night.

It seemed United were going to get away with another below-par display, just as they did against Aston Villa at the weekend, when Carlos Tevez gave them an 85th-minute lead in their Champions League quarter-final.

But poor defending allowed an unmarked Mariano to finish off Luisandro's cross a minute from time to give Porto the draw they deserved.

"No British team has won there, so it is going to be difficult," admitted Ferguson.

"But we are used to being first and we need to be first again because we have to win."

Porto have only recorded five wins from their 11 previous home encounters against English teams, which does give Ferguson some hope.

However, they held Atletico Madrid comfortably enough in the last round after recording exactly the same scoreline in their first meeting with the highly rated Spanish outfit.

And Ferguson accepts United have no-one but themselves to point the finger at for the mess they find themselves in.

"We only have ourselves to blame," said the Red Devils chief.

"To get a goal late on is quite a normal situation for us. But the one we gave away was absolutely terrible."

Porto were fast out of the blocks, with Cristian Rodriguez putting them ahead after just four minutes. Wayne Rooney profited from a catastrophic error by Bruno Alves but United knew they could easily have been behind before the dramatic late ending.