Manchester United earned a late draw at Porto through a Harry Maguire header. After going down to ten men and losing a two-goal lead, Porto were in control. However, the ever-dangerous set-piece man that is Harry Maguire headed home to save a point, and possibly, Erik Ten Hag’s job.
Match Flow
Manchester United scored first through the one consistent threat this season, Marcus Rashford. His well-placed finish snuck under the leg of Diogo Costa to give the Reds a lead early on.
A beautiful, flowing move from back to front gave United a two-goal advantage. A ball from Andre Onana was knocked to Eriksen by Hojlund, who eventually finished the attack with a goal in his first start on an assist from Rashford.
Porto pulled one back in the 27th minute after an Onana save rebounded to Pepe, who headed home for the hosts. Pepe got goalside of Lisandro Martinez, who did not anticipate the rebound.
Within six minutes, Porto leveled through Samu Omorodion. The Reds were caught far too deep, and a quality cross gave Omorodion a header as he bullied Matthijs De Ligt.
Porto’s tactic of creating chaos with their big striker and crosses worked twice in the first half with the two goals. United’s inability to close the crosser down allowed time and space for a good delivery.
The second half started with a big chance missed for the home side. Amad Diallo failed to track his man on a Porto break, and Onana was forced into a decent save.
The dysfunction in United’s back line led to a Porto third shortly after the first big chance. Noussair Mazraoui played Pepe onside, and the winger found Omorodion, who fired past Onana after again beating De Ligt to the ball. Ahead of the finish, Lisandro Martinez failed to stop Pepe, who got through the United half far too easily.
After sustained pressure from Manchester United, a flying attempt by Bruno Fernandes led to his second consecutive match with a red card. Much like the one against Tottenham, however, the decision was flawed. Neheun Perez went down holding his head, while replays clearly show no contact by Fernandes near the area Perez was holding. Unfortunately, VAR was unable to get involved, as the United captain was sent off via a second yellow card.
What looked like another loss was saved in stoppage time by Harry Maguire. Christian Eriksen took a brilliant corner, and the English center back headed into Costa’s bottom corner after beating his defender. Maguire was put on the pitch to be an aerial threat, and he rewarded his manager with a fine header.
After a complete collapse defensively and Bruno Fernandes’s red card, Manchester United earned an away point at Porto.
A Look Ahead
Manchester United travel to Villa Park on Sunday ahead of the international break. Aston Villa are coming off a historic win over Bayern Munich and are in fine form in the Premier League.
The real question is, how much longer will Erik Ten Hag last?
United Beyond Manchester 
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