The Red Devils achieved mission impossible to progress to the last four

The team that achieved the 'impossible', with Anderson cut out at the bottom left of the picture


What can i say? i'm over the moon and overjoyed with Man U's progress to the last four of the Champions League earlier this morning. I was getting really anxious before the match. Partly because no English team has ever won at the Dragao before and also because Porto is actually an excellent team, a fact that has been overlooked by most people. After all, they have reached the quarterfinals stage of the competition and they have beaten teams like Arsenal (in the group stage) and Athletico Madrid along the way. And in Lisandro Lopes, they have one of the best strikers in this years competition. 6 goals speak for his striking prowess.

Much have been made about the Dragao being an inpenetrable fortress, especially when it comes to English teams. But no English teams have ever played at the Dragao in a MUST WIN situation before, like the commentators at Sky Sports mentioned last night. However, Man U did get the supposedly unlikely job done last night. This was achieved, in no small part, due to Alex Ferguson tactical mastery. The 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the first leg gave valuable insights about Porto's strength and Fergie set the team out with a plan to, first and foremost, put a leash on that, before everything else. Stop Porto from playing, and with the quality that exists throughout the Man U squad, Fergie knew the impossible could be achieved. The main thing that Fergie did was to put Wayne Rooney on the wing, and let Ronaldo be one of the strikers. This worked because Rooney is a tireless worker and a team player. Besides being a danger himself on the sidelines, he would also track back every time Porto had the ball, particular to keep a check on Cissokho, Porto's dangerous left wingback. Something which Ronaldo would not have done effectively, or rather, willingly. The second thing that Fergie got right was putting Anderson in midfield, in place of Paul Scholes. Anderson added steel and injected pace into Man U's midfield, something that was missing in the first leg encounter. Rio came back to partner Vidic in defence too, after being missing through injury for quite sometime. With the two of them in defence, Man U looked more solid and a clean sheet was finally achieved by a defence that have leaked in goals and have looked out of sorts, recently.

A wonderful performance on a wonderful night with a magical goal by Ronaldo to cap. Glory glory Man United 1000000x