“WE WERE robbed,” recalls Alex Ferguson. “Absolute robbery.” Ferguson was referring to the two legs of Manchester United’s last-16 Champions League meeting with Porto five years ago and identified a number of thefts beyond the now rather famous disallowed goal by Paul Scholes that later scrutiny would reveal as valid.

The strokes of bad luck on those two nights stay etched in the mind’s eye of the United manager as if the tie had been played yesterday. The English champions meet their Portuguese equivalents on Tuesday aware that, should the outcome repeat the events of 2004, it would be greeted as an even greater shock.

Porto emerged as surprise winners of the competition three rounds after eliminating United. They were then a team guided by a brash, young Jose Mourinho, a club celebrating a smart new home – United had been the first visitors in a European match to the Estadio do Dragao – and a squad soon to provide half the players to a Portugal side who would finish second in that year’s European championship.

Jesualdo Ferreira’s Porto can scarcely be compared with the Mourinho version, although last night their 62-year-old head coach was chasing one small milestone laid down by the former European champions, looking to beat The Special One’s total of away wins, at Guimaraes. Ferguson had contemplated going to watch that match but thought better of it, given this afternoon’s pressing engagement against Aston Villa and because Porto had the influential Lucho Gonzalez suspended for the domestic fixture and were likely to rest their South American attackers. United’s manager had already spent a productive few days away studying footage of his next Champions League rivals. “We’ve done the work on Porto,” said Ferguson. “I watched them on holiday and took all the DVDs away and watched the last six games they played.” He also viewed again their most recent performance against an English club. “They beat Arsenal 2-0 at Porto and played very well that day.”

A different, closer-to-full-strength Arsenal, Ferguson needed no reminding, beat Porto 4-0 in London at the outset of the tournament, on matchday two of the group stage, so the least that can be said of the Portuguese champions is that they have recovered well in the course of the Champions League. They ended up topping their group, ahead of Arsenal, and reached the last eight thanks to the goals Lisandro Lopez scored at Atletico Madrid in a 2-2 draw. They counterattack effectively and Ferguson’s attention has been drawn not only to Lisandro, Porto’s leading scorer, in that respect but to his Brazilian partner in attack, the one with the fetching nickname: Hulk. “Big, powerful lad,” said the United manager of Givanildo Vieira de Souza. “He’s quick, with a good left foot. I’m surprised he’s not in the Brazil squad.”

Ferguson stressed that “all the knowledge [about Porto] is there”. Further expertise could also be provided from within. Anderson, United’s Brazilian midfielder, was recruited from Porto just under two years ago and Carlos Tevez has just spent a difficult nine days, some of them breathless, in La Paz with the Argentina squad who beat Venezuela and were thrashed by Bolivia. His colleagues there included the midfielder Lucho and Lisandro, whose six goals in the competition have been vital to his club. “The boy Lisandro is a finisher, a real striker,” says Ferguson, “and Porto have a lot of Argentinians.” Ferguson has plenty of information but is keen to avoid déjà vu. Five years ago, Porto progressed 3-2 on aggregate thanks to a late goal in Manchester. “I’m very mindful of the last time we met. That night sticks in the mind because Scholes’ goal was clearly a goal and the most ridiculous decision was when Cristiano Ronaldo was brought down going through, the linesman flagged for a foul and the referee went against it. They got a free kick and scored. It will be a difficult tie.”

Despite that, Ferguson was still willing to look beyond it, to a possible semi-final and beyond that, Rome, the venue for the final. “The threat as I see it is Barcelona,” he said. “They’re playing well enough to cause anybody problems. We’ve avoided them in the draw and have to be pleased about that. Because of the competitive nature of our Premier League I think an English team will win the Champions League again this year and it could be another all-English final. There could be three English teams in the semis again, that’s how strong we are.”

LAST NIGHT

Porto cruised to a comfortable 3-1 win over Guimaraes to go seven points clear at the top of the Portuguese Liga Sagres. Guimaraes went ahead through Roberto but Ernesto Farias, Gonzalez and Rolando hit back after half-time.