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On Thursday, October 3, Harry Maguire scored a stoppage time equaliser in the second half, to help Manchester United earn a much-needed 3-3 draw against Porto at the Estadio do Dragao in the UEFA Europa League 2024-25 clash. In the post-match interview, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who is under pressure to keep his job after a tough start to the season, stayed defiant about turning around the fortunes of the club in the near future.
Notably, Manchester United got off to an absolute flyer in Portugal, taking a 2-0 lead within the first 20 minutes with Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund finding the back of the net. But Porto made a sparkling comeback in front of their fans with two goals in seven minutes from Pepe and Sami Omorodion, to level the scoreline at 2-2 before going into half-time.
Harry Maguire's 91st minute equaliser saved Man Utd further criticism
At the start of the second half, Porto took the 3-2 lead with the second goal on the night from Sami Omorodion in the 50th minute before their defence held firm amidst constant waves of attacks from Manchester United to find an equaliser. In the 81st minute, captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a high foot inside the final third of the opponents, but despite having 10 men on the pitch, the English club scored an equaliser in the 91st minute with a towering header from Harry Maguire.
While talking to the press about the 3-3 draw against Porto, the Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, sounded quite optimistic about the progression of his team in the coming months despite his job seemingly on the line. He was quoted as saying, to TNT Sports, “We will get there. Don't judge us in this moment, judge us at the end of the season. We are in the process, we will improve. We have had two seasons where we have reached finals, we will continue and fight.”
Erik ten Hag also credited his team for fighting against adversity at the Estadio do Dragao before stating the positive aspects of the recent performances from Manchester United. He said, “You see the spirit and the connection between the staff and the team. The players are together, they have a strong spirit and they want to achieve. We have a good mentality but in some defending parts we have to step up. We had three clean sheets not a long time ago so we can defend very good, but we have to go back to those habits.”
