United held to draw by Porto

By Jeremy Cross

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester United's Champions League hopes were left hanging by a thread after Porto substitute Mariano grabbed a late equaliser in an entertaining 2-2 draw in their quarter-final, first leg on Tuesday.

The European champions looked to have got out of jail at Old Trafford when their Argentina forward Carlos Tevez came off the bench to fire home an 85th minute strike from Wayne Rooney's clever back-heel to put the struggling hosts 2-1 ahead.

It appeared to have capped an unlikely comeback after Porto stunned the home fans by taking the lead inside four minutes.

United defender Jonny Evans was at fault, sending a poor clearance straight to Cristian Rodriguez who ghosted round the Ireland international before curling a smart left-foot shot beyond Edwin van der Sar into the bottom corner.

Few realised at the time but it was a sign of things to come with the visitors continuing to dominate a United side looking short of pace and laboured in midfield.

WOEFUL PASS

Lisandro could have doubled Porto's lead but saw his strike saved by Van der Sar before United were gifted an equaliser courtesy of Bruno Alves's woeful back pass.

Rooney could hardly believe his luck as he beat Porto goalkeeper Helton with a calm finish after 15 minutes.