Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have had only two days to recover after their remarkable 91st minute 3 – 2 comeback on Sunday against Aston Villa, but out of a tough situation comes a bit of a silver lining. The fact that Manchester United will be going up against a very difficult Porto at Old Trafford meant that both Sunday and Monday the team was able to recover in the comfort of their own homes and training facility rather than having to worry about jumping on a plane and trying to recover in unfamiliar road hotels lacking the little things taken for granted.
Via UEFA
“You have to say that winning goal has just galvanised the club,” said Sir Alex, who went on to describe it as a “defining moment” in their campaign.
“We survived some hairy moments but when it went to 2-1 then you saw Manchester United, the risk came out, everyone started playing with abandon,” he said, adding: “We are sending some of our supporters into cardiac treatment, including the manager, but it is fantastic to watch.”
Sir Alex, who said man-of-the-moment Macheda can expect a place on the bench, hopes the return of Wayne Rooney, suspended on Sunday together with Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidi?, will provide extra impetus along with Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to scoring form, although Dimitar Berbatov misses out with an ankle injury. “Our team will now hopefully start going into overdrive,” said the 67-year-old. He must hope this goes for his suddenly fragile defence too. United have conceded eight goals in the last three domestic outings and even if Vidi? returns and Rio Ferdinand shrugs off a groin problem, they cannot afford to repeat recent wobbles against opponents who have registered two goals in each of their last three European away games.
The Portuguese champions secured an eighth successive league away win on Saturday in beating Vitória SC 3-1, and their coach, Jesualdo Ferreira, arrived promising an attacking outlook. “English teams play with speed and high intensity at home but we must not lose our identity,” he said. “We have an attacking spirit, we are not going to change and we will play to win. We want a victory above all but to score a goal will be important.”
“We are top of our league and want to show what we can do.” Sir Alex is certainly not underestimating opponents who finished ahead of Arsenal FC in the group stage, despite losing 4-0 in London. “The first thing Cristiano [Ronaldo] said to me when we had the draw is ‘this is a difficult game’. We have watched them and they are a difficult side. Physically they are very strong, and Hulk up front is a very good player.”
