Manchester United narrowly avoided another embarrassing defeat as substitute Harry Maguire headed in an injury-time equalizer to salvage a 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League on Thursday after Erik ten Hag’s team had given up an early 2-0 lead and seen Bruno Fernandes sent off for a second straight game.
Fernandes was shown a second booking in the 81st minute for a high boot that caught defender Nehuen Perez as he tried to connect with a cross into the box.
“We started the game very good, we dominated, we scored two good goals but then we lost control,” Ten Hag said. “The middle part was no good and then we finished very good. … We got the equalizer so it is good for the spirit.”
Fernandes had been shown a straight read in a 3-0 loss to Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday that upped the pressure on Ten Hag. And the Dutch manager seemed to be in more trouble when United gave up an early 2-0 lead to trail 3-2 when Pepê produced a cross from the right for his fellow forward Samu to fire his second and goal high into the net five minutes into the second half.
But Maguire headed home a corner in the first minute of injury time to salvage a point for United, which now has two draws in the league phase and has failed to win any of its last four games in all competitions.
United couldn’t have asked for a better start in Portugal, though. Christian Eriksen teed up Marcus Rashford, who showed great footwork to burst into the area before beating goalkeeper Diogo Costa with a low strike into the bottom left-hand corner of the net in the seventh minute.
Eriksen was involved in the second 13 minutes later, too, as he started the move in the middle before finding Rashford to set up Rasmus Højlund, who unleased a powerful blast inside the near post for his first goal of the season.
But Porto came right back as Pepê and Samu headed in goals within seven minutes of each other to level the score before the break.
Earlier, a youthful Tottenham side maintained a perfect record with a 2-1 victory away at Ferencváros , while Lazio also made it two wins out of two by routing Nice 4-1 at home.
Pape Sarr gave Tottenham the lead midway through the first half when he reacted quickly to a loose ball in the area and slotted it into the net with a right-foot shot for his second goal in two games in the second-tier European competition.
Brennan Johnson came on as substitute in the second half and scored the second four minutes from time with a left-footed strike off the far post. It was the fifth goal in five games in all competitions for the Wales international.
Parnabas Varga pulled one back for Ferencváros in the final minute.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou made seven changes to the team that beat United at Old Trafford. Four teenagers started for Spurs, with the 19-year-old Will Lankshear making his senior debut and 17-year-old teammate Mikey Moore making his first start.
In torrential rain at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Taty Castellano scored twice for Lazio, first making it 2-0 in the first half by lobbing the ball over goalkeeper Marcin Bulka in a one-on-one situation and then makin it 3-1 in the second half with a shot into the roof of the net.
Lyon also has two wins after beating Rangers 4-1 in Glasgow, with forward Alexandre Lacazette and Malick Fofana scoring two goals apiece.
Dutch side Twente that upset Manchester United 1-1 at Old Trafford last week, held also José Mourinho‘s Fenerbahce 1-1 at home.
Captain Michael Baidoo scored from the spot and Swedish club Elfsborg upset Roma 1-0. New Roma coach Ivan Juri? remains with a win in the competition.
Substitute Tomáš Chorý headed in a second-half equalizer for Slavia to hold Ajax to a 1-1 draw in Prague. Ajax went ahead after Branco van den Boomen sent Slavia goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot in the 18th. The visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 75th after defender Youri Baas received his second yellow card.
Anderlecht came from a goal down to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 away, with Theo Leoni scoring the winner late in the first half.
Ayoub El Kaabi scored two and Santiago Hezze added another one for last year’s Conference League winner Olympiacos to beat visiting Braga 3-0.
Hoffenheim, which is struggling in the Bundesliga, recorded a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv.
Eintracht Frankfurt, the 2022 Europa League winners, scored two first half goal within three minutes on the way to a 3-1 away victory at Besiktas.
Conference League
Chelsea made a winning debut in the third-tier Conference League as Renato Veiga, Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all scored in a 4-2 win over Belgium’s Gent at Stamford Bridge.
Fiorentina, which reached the final in the last two seasons, beat Welsh side New Saints 2-0.
In a couple of high-scoring games, Cercle Brugge routed St. Gallen 6-2 after a hat trick from Kevin Denkey, and Omonoia beat Vikingur Reykjavík 4-0 at home in Cyprus.
Legia Warsaw edged Real Betis 1-0.
Scottish side Hearts traveled a long way to Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, to take home a 2-1 victory over Belarusian champion Dinamo Minsk.
UEFA banned Russian clubs from all its events over the country’s invasion of Ukraine but has allowed Belarusian teams to keep playing despite the country’s support of Russia, as long as the games are hosted outside of Belarus without a crowd.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer