Tom Lappin: Porto pose serious threat as United continue to stutter

Published on Sunday 12 April 2009 22:44

IF IT'S Tuesday it must be the Estadio do Dragao. Pivotal games in Manchester United's epochal season are coming thick and fast, each a reminder that there is a decidedly fine line between glory and failure.

Should Manchester United lose the league to Liverpool for instance, no amount of polish on the gleaming European Cup, FA Cup, World Club Championship and League Cup could take the tarnish off an ignominious surrender to the hated rivals from Merseyside.

After labouring ineffectually for much of the game against Sunderland on Saturday, United's title challenge remains vulnerable. Rescued once more by a 17-year-old Italian, United's remarkable brinkmanship merely highlights their ongoing struggle to recapture their most fluent form. If they are stumbling towards the line in the league, Europe presents a higher obstacle.

United's trip to Porto on Wednesday looks increasingly complicated. It's perhaps forgivable that when the draw was made, United's path to the semi-finals looked relatively straightforward. Porto's pedigree was deemed to be in the past, those Uefa Cup and Champions League successes in 2003 and 2004 attributed solely to the genius of Jose Mourinho rather than the quality of the club – an impression never discouraged by Mourinho.

By necessity, given Mourinho cherry-picked his best Porto players to accompany him to Stamford Bridge, this is a very different side. Five years on, none of Mourinho's Champions League-winning team remains with the club. With the best Portuguese players heading for Italy, England or Spain, Jesualdo Ferreira's side has reinvented itself as a South American club in exile. Traditionally Brazilian footballers would always pad out the Portuguese club rosters, helped by a common language. Porto's innovation has been to turn the club into a refuge for Argentines and Uruguayans. The squad presently includes ten players from those nations (and 14 South Americans in all).

It works. Maybe a little South American self-regard erodes United's European reputation. Respect for it was conspicuous by its absence among Porto's players. If Mourinho's team was a robust and solid outfit enlivened by Deco and Derlei, Ferreira's team is more enterprising. Their display at Old Trafford last Tuesday was far more dominant than that of Mourinho's side five years ago.

Last week they played with an uncomplicated vigour and directness that confounded expectations. Sir Alex Ferguson claimed to be unsurprised by their approach, which begs the question as to why his players weren't better able to counter the attacking sallies of Hulk and Lisandro Lopez.

At the time of the quarter-final draw, United's Champions League prospects looked positively rosy. After being outplayed at home on Tuesday, and witnessing the exploits of potential opponents in the final Chelsea and Barcelona on Wednesday, they became long shots.

For that to change, United have to recover their arrogant self-assurance and quickly. Their strength-in-depth has looked questionable against Aston Villa, Porto and Sunderland, with Gary Neville and Jonny Evans vying to be the least suitable deputy for Rio Ferdinand.

It's become apparent that Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are perfectly complementary: each looks ill-at-ease when their defensive partner is missing.

In attack, United's resources have proved richer. Federico Macheda has been an unexpected bonus, but Carlos Tevez has been embarrassing Ferguson every time he plays, because his appetite and skill compel the normally reticent United fans to insist that the manager secure his United future. His commitment has only been highlighted in comparison to the habitually ambivalent Cristiano Ronaldo, who now deems himself too valuable to try to retrieve the ball himself, and expects United minions to do it for him.

The Ronaldo conundrum has dogged United's season. Regular stories of the player's imminent departure for Real Madrid are invariably followed by orchestrated denials and Ronaldo's ambiguous assurances that he "is at the right club" (for now, for easy access to the Lakes and Peak District, until an even more right club comes along?).

If he is going to move, he might like to bequeath United one last resplendent performance. His homeland on Wednesday night is the appropriate stage.