Late Maguire equaliser eases pressure on Ten Hag

Super sub Harry Maguire's stoppage-time header saved Manchester United’s blushes and potentially Erik ten Hag’s job as the Europa League clash with Porto ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.

Four days after their 3-0 home humiliation at the hands of Tottenham, the Red Devils put criticism of the players and their under-fire manager to the side with an impressive start in Portugal.

Goals from Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund had United in control, only for Ten Hag’s men to lose their way and their defensive faculties as Pepe scored before Samu Omorodion’s brilliant brace.

Captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off for the second straight match as Ten Hag squirmed, only for Maguire to head home a Christian Eriksen corner in stoppage time to seal a point.

The Dutchman will be grateful to the towering centre-back after coming to the rescue in what always looked to be the toughest assignment in the new-look Europa League.

But the manner of the performance in Porto does little to help Ten Hag ahead of Sunday's Premier League trip to Aston Villa and the October international break.

It was a crazy end to a match that had started so brilliantly from a United perspective.

With seven minutes on the clock, Rashford collected the ball wide on the left and darted towards the box, showing great footwork under pressure to cut between two players and hit a low snapshot that Diogo Costa let squirm past him.

United pushed for a quickfire second, with a slight defensive touch taking a tantalising Rashford cross wide before a panicked Porto clearance at a corner hit a team-mate and flew over their own goal.

The second Ten Hag’s men threatened arrived in the 20th minute.

Eriksen played wide to Rashford, who slipped in underlapping Hojlund to hit a first-time