In the grand scheme of Manchester City's ambitions, the Europa League may be small beer but this was a very big deal. If Porto are not classed among the aristocracy of European football to which they aspire, they are certainly part of its landed gentry. Since 1987, a year that marked one of City's many relegations, they have won the European Cup, the Uefa Cup and its equivalent, the Europa League, four times.
This was a display of great maturity and no little tactical
skill epitomised by the performance of Yaya Touré who, with Mario
Balotelli, was the victim of alleged racist abuse from the
stands.
He had flown 5,000 miles from Libreville to Oporto via Abidjan
amid the crushing disappointment of the Ivory Coast's failure to
win the Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament which was theirs by
right and which they dominated. Only those members of the Hungarian
or Dutch World Cup teams of 1954 and 1974 would understand quite
how Touré felt as he embarked on the long journey home.
"Strong" was the adjective his manager, Roberto Mancini used to
describe his performance. If anything this was an understatement.
That he selected him at all was a vindication of how he regards
Touré as the glue that binds his side together.
He finished with the muscular run and the square ball that
Sergio Aguero drove home to put Manchester City in decisive control
of a match marred by the great recurring theme of this season:
racial abuse.
Mancini claimed not to have heard it but it will be the subject
of an official complaint from the club to Uefa. Given how many
black players the Europa League champions possess in their own
squad, the monkey chants almost defy comprehension. Neither target
appeared unduly affected by the taunts which in Balotelli's case
should be a matter for a small celebration.
"Mario did very well because he was calm," his manager said. "I
told him before the game that it should be about how you play and
not the other things." However, through no fault of his own, "the
other things" came once more rushing to the surface.
Mancini added that he thought his players were "60 per cent
through" to the next stage of the competition, which is more than
he bargained for. Before kick-off he anticipated that this was an
encounter that would be "decided over 180 minutes", won on points
rather than with a single knockout blow. However, as his side
slipped into the night, Porto were not just on the ropes but
starting to actively slide down them..
Frankly, the Manchester City manager would have settled for a
draw, especially after going behind. Mostly was the kind of match
he would have enjoyed in the same way a forward defensive push from
Geoff Boycott might once have been enjoyed. It would not feature in
many end-of-season videos but was reassuring and in its way
mightily effective.
For 20 minutes it worked very well. Porto made several attempts
to turn City's flanks without ever getting past either of Mancini's
full-backs. However, the first time they did, they scored.
Hulk is not quite the footballing juggernaut the nickname that
Givanildo Vieira de Souza's physique earned him and he has never
quite justified the preposterous €100m [£83m] buy-out clause that
the Portuguese champions have inserted into his contract. However,
like a lot of centre-forwards – Alan Shearer was a prime example –
Hulk is a very good crosser of a ball. The one he delivered as the
game creaked towards the half-hour mark was fast and low and
Silvestre Varela timed his run to meet it perfectly as it sped
between Vincent Kompany and Gaël Clichy.
This was rather less than Manchester City deserved. Touré had
not played in a Manchester City shirt since they swept Liverpool
away in the first week of January, while this was Balotelli's first
game since his four-match ban for stamping on Scott Parker, another
example of "the other things".
The hint of rust on the young Italian's boots may have accounted
for his failure to pull Manchester City almost immediately level. A
long ball from Samir Nasri found him with far more time in front of
goal that he probably knew he had and though the shot may have
stung Helton's hands it was directed too close to the
goalkeeper.
As the game wore on, Manchester City came ever closer. The
second half was barely five minutes old when Micah Richards's
muscular run ended with the ball slapping against Porto's post and
then came the equaliser and away goal from an unthreatening ball
that Alvaro Peireira attempted to direct into his goalkeeper's arms
and succeeded only in steering it into Helton's net. It was a
self-inflicted wound and one that is likely to prove fatal.
Balotelli and Toure 'were racially abused'
Manchester City have made an official complaint to Uefa about
alleged racist abuse directed at Mario Balotelli and Yaya Touré
during their 2-1 Europa League victory over Porto last night.
Balotelli was the recipient of monkey chants and was booed when he
was substituted in the Estadio do Dragao. Although the City
manager, Roberto Mancini, said he had not heard the abuse, the club
submitted a complaint to the Uefa delegate in Oporto immediately
after the final whistle.
Touré said: "This is why we love the Premier League. This sort
of thing never happens there. Perhaps at foreign clubs they don't
expect black players to perform well but this is football and
perhaps we can use this to make the game more open." The abuse
flared when Touré, who set up the winning goal, disputed a decision
with the Turkish referee, Cuneyt Cakir. The abuse was said to have
shocked his brother, Kolo, who was sitting in the stands.
Man of the match Y Touré.
Match rating 6/10.
Referee C Cakir (Tur).
Attendance 47,417.
Sporting chance still exists of City meeting
Sporting twice came from behind in Poland to earn a 2-2
first-leg draw with Legia Warsaw, with the eventual winners going
on to host the victors of the Porto-Manchester City match in the
last 16.
In Russia, Manchester United's opponents could be Lokomotiv
Moscow after they came from behind to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1,
while PSV triumphed 2-1 at Trabzonspor, making the Dutch side
favourites to progress to a last-16 tie with either Stoke or
Valencia.
James Mariner
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