Cristiano Ronaldo hit an absolute screamer to clinch victory
for Manchester United in Porto and set up an all English semi final
against Arsenal
It was the sort of match that would once have been
portrayed as a moment for madcap risk-taking by
Manchester
United. Instead they went methodically
about the business of becoming the first English club to beat Porto
on their own ground in European competition. The statistic is no
prize in itself and United were really intent on displaying their
command after being held 2-2 at home.
The outcome is therapeutic for holders who are now in better
shape to make a successful defence of the Champions League, even if they will have
to deal with a reviving Arsenal in a semi-final whose first leg is
at Old Trafford. United appear gradually to be regaining authority,
and spectacle was confined last night to the remarkable long-range
goal from Cristiano Ronaldo in
the sixth minute.
Ronaldo has failed to scale the heights of last season’s
Champions League form but he took less than six minutes to reassert
his credentials as the world’s best player by producing a stunning
goal out of nothing.
Ronaldo said: “That’s the best goal I’ve ever scored. I didn’t
know it was from 40 yards and flew at 65 mph until I saw the
television replay after the game. Wow! It was a fantastic
strike.”
The Portuguese, stripped to the waist, was almost the last
player to leave the field at full-time. This occasion in his
homeland clearly had resonance for him, and Sir Alex Ferguson must
have incorporated that factor in his scheming, since Ronaldo was
given the key post of lone striker.
The champions of the world, the universe and everything now face
Arsenal in what promises to be yet another cracker of an
all-English European tie thanks to a quite incredible goal from the
world's finest player.
He has scored great goals before, with just about every part of
his anatomy, from just about every part of the pitch. But rarely
has he unleashed a shot as breathtaking as the 40-yard rocket that
flew past Helton in the sixth minute of this quarter-final second
leg.
That United protected their advantage for the 84 minutes which
then followed also amounted to quite an achievement. Strengthened
by the return of the remarkable Rio Ferdinand, they contained a
side who simply ran riot in the first leg at Old Trafford eight
days earlier. In so doing, they became the first English side to
conquer Porto in their own backyard.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men become the first English team to
ever win a European Cup match in Porto
