Porto Vs Manchester United: Difficult Road To Rise

JAKARTA - Manchester United tried to rise from a negative trend when they visited Porto headquarters, Estadio do Dragao, in the second match of the 2024/2025 Europa League, Friday, October 4, 2024, early morning WIB.

The Red Devils are under heavy pressure after losing 0-3 against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

Manchester United have started the Premier League season with the worst performance, only seven points have lost three of their opening six games.

The defeat to Spurs left supporters at the height of anger. In fact, legend Gary Neville called his former club disgusting and one of the worst performances under Erik ten Hag.

Ten Hag has run out of reasons to explain the destruction of the Red Devils. More than 600 million pounds have been spent on new players.

Then, 12 of the 16 players used against Spurs were recruited by the Dutch coach from the club's academy.

If the report is trustworthy, Manchester United officials have taken preparations to make changes.

Ten Hag was given the opportunity for two matches, namely the away match against Porto and Aston Villa before the international break.

If the performance level doesn't improve soon, then the future of the 54-year-old manager, who just signed a two-year contract in July 2024, could be in big trouble.

Before the defeat against Spurs, the Red Devils struggled to win a 1-1 draw at home against FC Twenty in the opening match of the Europa League.

Erik ten Hag did bring his troops to Portugal in high motivation to rise.

Mereka bisa melecut diri dengan catatan tidak pernah kalah dalam 12 laga Eropa terakhir melawan klub-klub Portugal.

They beat Porto 1-0 in their last meeting at Estadio do Dragao in 2009.

At that time, Cristiano Ronaldo scored an iconic goal from a distance of 40 yards to secure a narrow victory in the Champions League.

The problem is, the mission to revive Manchester United has a big chance of being tackled by Porto.

Dragoes started the domestic season much better than his guests. They won six of Primeira Liga's seven opening matches with a goal difference of 16-1.

Their only league defeat during this period came against leaders and defending champions Sporting Lisbon, (0-2) at the end of August 2024.

Before hosting the Red Devils, Porto had just won 4-0 over Arouca in the league. In fact, they played with 10 players.

Head coach Vitor Bruno, who replaced Sergio Conceicao in the summer, praised his team's performance. He hopes they can transfer domestic performance to the European stage even though it hasn't actually performed optimally.

Indeed, Porto suffered a surprising away defeat 2-3 against Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt, in last week's Europa League opening match.

However, currently Porto's mentality is much better. They were also pushed to get their first three points in the Europa League.

As many as four of the four most recent meetings between the two teams, none of them were superior. Each packing one win and the other two matches ended in a draw.

Porto benefited from that note. Plus, they will appear in front of the public themselves who have the chance to tackle Manchester United.

Formation Forecast

Porto (4-2-3-1): Costa; Mario, Pedro, Perez, Moura; Gonzalez, Varela; Pepe, Sousa, Galeno; Omorodion

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Eriksen, Ugarte; Diallo, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund