Porto 0 United 1: Player ratings

April 15, 2009

8 Van der Sar: Confident handling from the Dutchman helped restore a sense of solidity at the back

7 O’Shea: Didn’t look out of place at right back

8 Ferdinand: The unflappable England defender was at the heart of United’s strong defensive display

8 Vidic: The Serb would have rued his first-half miss but atoned with some for defensive work

7 Evra: After a spell when the Frenchman has been below-par, this was better

7 Ronaldo: Stunning strike and put Porto on the back foot in his striker role

7 Carrick: Wearing Keano’s number 16 shirt when asking for a Turin-type display was not easy but handled job well

6 Anderson: Turned 21 last Monday and a return to his old stomping ground brought out better form from the Brazilian

6 Giggs: The old stager’s experience back in his former wing role was great protection for Evra

7 Rooney: Must have been itching to vacate wing but produced a disciplined Euro display on the right flank was called for and he did it

6 Berbatov: Brought a calm head to attack back up and showed some nice touchesmore came from his touches than for a while

SUBSTITUTES:

Nani: (sub Berbatov 68) Few dodgy defensive moments 4

Scholes: (sub Anderson 78) Almost gave away a chance as soon as came on 5

NOT USED: Neville, Evans, Tevez, Macheda, Foster

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keithmat (15/04/2009 at 22:05)

Evra was not worth a 7 I thought he had a bad night and almost cost us, Giggs was woeful in the first half. Knock a couple of SAF for each substitution Scholes almost cost us, but give him a few for a wierd but successful team and position selection. Is Rooney looking for O'Shea's title will he be in Goal next week. I actually thought Berbatov played better than a 6 and gelled the whole thing until he went off when Porto suddenly looked more dangerous.

We won. Not pretty but we won.

pkenro,kenya (15/04/2009 at 22:08)

anderson and giggs shud av had 7.andersom was quite good in winning balls

Robbo, N2409, M16 (15/04/2009 at 22:11)

VDS: 7 - Calm. Well, sort of.

JOP: 7 - Good game.

RF: 9 - Calm, controlled, excellent.

NV: 7 - Better.

PE: 5 - Dazed and confused.

MC: 5 - Passenger. Legs have gone.

A-son-son-son: 7 - Nice clipped passing. Good shift.

RG: 5 - Kept giving it away. Looked about 50.

CR: 7 - Decent hit.

WR: 8 - Dirk Kuyt.

DB: 6.5 - Almost good, nice control but no real threat.

Nani: 5 - Nani-ish.

PS: 6 - Ok.

i bleed Man United, Botswana (15/04/2009 at 22:11)

Rooney was MOM- 8. Ronaldo too(i.e. 8 too), both in unaccustomed positions n did well. Vds 7. Otherwise ratings aren't bad.

jesmonta, Malta (15/04/2009 at 22:23)

Anderson Played his best match this season .He won a lot of balls in midfield and covered well. He deserves 7. Today Sir Alex made two mistakes though. He substituted Anderson and played Nani who is not playing well. I agree that Berbatov had to be substituted ,but with Scholes and Anderson remained On.

Gilly, Belgium (15/04/2009 at 22:30)

Thank god
and well done to Ronaldo what a strike !

the defence still has to tighten up !

Red Crook (15/04/2009 at 22:31)

I think Anderson's passing was poor at times, but his ballwinning abilities is top notch! Strength beyond his years.

Frequent Flyer, Altrincham (15/04/2009 at 22:36)

CARRICK RAN CIRCA 9 KILOMETERS THE MATCH STATS SHOWED - BUT HE DIDNT MAKE ONE TACKLE - YET AGAIN - HE NEVER MAKES AN IMPACT !
ALL GOOD ALL ROUND PERFORMANCE WHEN IT WAS NEEDED - WELL DONE TO ALL MUFC IN PORTO.

Steve, Glossop (15/04/2009 at 22:37)

Thanks Ronaldo that was for all the 'antis'! Who else was going to score? Anderson wasn't great but at least he fought for the ball Carrick was dismal. Defence back to normal good stuff. Barca in the final come on.

Cyprus Red, Cyprus (15/04/2009 at 22:39)

Who really cares about ratings. It's a team game and we won. Great result.

tooth&claw, manchester (15/04/2009 at 22:45)

Rooney 9, everyone else 8.

tooth&claw, manchester (15/04/2009 at 22:51)

Oh, and 10 for Ferguson for the selection. Rooney on the right and Ronaldo in the middle. Genius. And Phelan 8, that shaving cut shows you're a real man, despite not wearing the shorts.

manu expert (15/04/2009 at 23:09)

great game, tactics were spot on. thought andersons energy and tracking back was vital to our chances.

berbatov? the guys is lost, apart from few touches here and there did not do much. can you imagine that ball giggs played to berbatov through the centre if it was torres, drogba or eto'o? it would have been game over.

evra was poor, needs competition from fabio to keep him on his toes. rio & vidic were brilliant.

poor subs by fergie, nearly cost us. why bring on nani and scholes when we were looking to close the game?. if we keep everyone fit we might just pull it off! (five trophy that is)

Ancient Fan, Parksville, BC, Canada (15/04/2009 at 23:12)

Much better performance. A good away win. I thought that Porto were playing with 15 men in the last 15 minutes.
Berbatov wasn't up to much and Rooney was quiet but, just when I thought that we would never see another clean sheet, we DID IT!
Well done lads, keep it up.

I saw Duncan Edwards play, Walton Le Dale (15/04/2009 at 23:22)

I can't believe some of the comments and marks already posted on here! Crimes! We played very well, got a great result. ALL the players played exactly to SAF's instructions, All the pundits on the tele were full of praise for ALL the United players, These same pundits were all of a world class calibre in their playing days, so they know nothing about the game, eh? Some of you "supporters" are never satisfied! I sometimes despair.

Thankfully, not all posters have never played the game!!!

Alias Smith, over the moon (15/04/2009 at 23:25)

VdS - 10 - Very assured, still one of the very best keepers around. Gave confidence to his defence.

JOS - 10 - Not my favourite United player but absolutely delighted he's been in the squad this season

Rio - 10 - Showed why he's one of the world's best defenders, even when not fully fit

Vidic - 10 - Looked much more assured with Rio next to him

Evra - 9.5 - Better, though still not quite back to his best

Giggs - 10 - Level-headed, calm, experienced, a threat from open play and set pieces

Carrick - 10 - Controlled the game with Anderson

Anderson - 10 - Great to see him back and he played well considering how little game time he had

Rooney - 10 - Has the skill, the discipline, the desire to play and have an influence on the game in any position

Ronaldo - 10 - Great goal and worked hard. Close to his best.

Berbatov - 10 - Sublime control, great touches, worked hard until replaced. Having him fit is a great boost to our chances for the rest of the season.

SAF - 10 - Picked the right team, picked the right tactics, got them working as a unit again. Deserved the delight that was clear on his face at the end. The master.

Gary Breen (15/04/2009 at 23:26)

Anderson had to come off, he was finished. He never lasts more than 50 minutes anyway, but hopefully that will change.

Carrick no impact? There's more to football than tackling...

manu expert (15/04/2009 at 23:26)

i thought the injury to lucho gonzalez was great boost to us. if he had stayed on they would have caused us a lot of problems. anyone agree?

Pete Sydney (15/04/2009 at 23:51)

Ronaldo should get 9 for the goal. Rooney was very average in the first half and cleaned up by Sissoko. Scholes is becoming a turnover specialist. He gives the ball away too easy. It's like watching an 80 year old park a car unless you play for the opposition. Berba improved as the match went on. I counted only one strike at the goals in the past two games. He almost looks like a defensive midfielder when he passes back to the keeper. Go the other way lad. Slowshakey looks better whn his job scope is redefined thanks to Rio's presence. I would not vote for Vidic for player of the year. He is great but I feel since the early link up with a move to Milan he has lost it. also no Giggs for player of the year. Shoot me all of you but I think Gerrard has been better than all of our boys and deserves that. May that be the only silverware he receives and the first since his OBE. Anderson had a great game. Nani was not as bad as Mathieson has rated. He was better than Scholes. Evra was cleaned up and deserved a 5 at most. Ferdinand a 9.5. Carrick 5.5-6.

Well done to SAF. Great team selection. I think probably the best starting lineup in Europe. Would like to see Fletch on bench though. Get better lad.

Bill69, Bury. UK (16/04/2009 at 00:20)

Game was great. Dreaded watching on TV but they came through. Great defence and Ronaldo found his old form again. Berbatov was his usual self. NBG.
As well as getting to semi final they broke the record of being first English Team to beat Porto on home ground. Now lets see if they can win this League as well as the other two events.

steve chew, usa (16/04/2009 at 01:09)

I agree with Jesmonta about Anderson. He played well and blunt any Porto offensive buildup early so that the back 4 were relatively untroubled. He was the difference in midfield in the 2 games. In my opinion, he deserves more than a 6. Well done MU!

I see the Stretford End Arising (16/04/2009 at 03:01)

8 Van der Sar: Great handling and only that missed cross was the only heart attack moment.

6 O’Shea: Shakey as ever.

9 Ferdinand: Oh what a breath of fresh air. Gone is the stupid hoofing up the pitch when we are defending with having the instinct to know if there is time to play the ball. Rock solid.

8 Vidic: Could have got a 2nd yellow for a clumsy challenge in the second half but defensivley flawless.

5 Evra: A few good moments going forward but very shaky at the back and got turned on more than one occasion.

8 Ronaldo: You won't see a better goal. He also put himself about and cut out a lot of the petulance that has been all too evident this season. This was a lot more like it from our talisman.

4 Carrick: How he got a 7 was beyond me. The amount of sloppy passes he gave under absolutely no pressure. Didn't impose himself again. Has been a weak link of late whatever has happened to him.

8 Anderson: Somebody who actually ran at an opposing midfield with purpose was a welcome change. Battled for every ball. More like the Anderson of last season.

6 Giggs: Subdued really. A few loose passes when under no pressure. That backpass was suicide!

10 Rooney: How did he only get a 7??? He didn't put a foot wrong and worked his socks off.

6 Berbatov: Held up the ball well and brought others into the game. Has got to get into the box more though.

SUBSTITUTES:

Nani: (sub Berbatov 68) Braindead! 4

Scholes: (sub Anderson 78) Caught out when he came on with a bad pass, nearly costly. 5

Fisco UTD, Sydney, Australia (16/04/2009 at 03:18)

Not sure if I agree with some of the ratings once again but i definately don't agree with any critism for any of the players tonight. Its a team game and we played really well as a team.

And what a strike!!!! Does this go some way to stop the Ronaldo knockers for him not being a big game player???? And he tracked back when needed!!!! A round of applause please.......

salfordexile, torbay (16/04/2009 at 04:06)

Champions of england, Champions of europe. Be afraid barca, be VERY afraid.

Happy Valley Barry, San Francisco, California (16/04/2009 at 04:07)

Marvelous team performance against a very good Porto team. I thought
they all deserved higher marks, especially Anderson, a 6 does not register
how well he tackled and helped protect the back four. Berbatov too, you
cannot give any of our lads such low marks, this was a historical win
in their stadium. And let's not forget our away fans, they deserve a 10.
A night to remember.
Up the Reds,

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