Manchester United v PAOK Salonika: Europa League – as it ...

Jamie Jackson was at Old Trafford tonight. His report is in, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy speaks to TNT. “It was a pretty poor first half … and I’m nice … the second half was way better, that was clear … Amad made the difference … obviously with his goals but he was sharp … in the first half one of the few at his level … well done to him, good game … positionally we were not good in the first half … we were too much out of position … the second half was a lot better and we got into the game … Diallo has been incredible actually … always on the training pitch … Ruud, let’s do more … [in the first half] we left our positions too much … it’s all goodwill, but it’s not helping the team … in the second half we stayed more in position … that led to more danger … I urged, it’s time to get this turned round … I am so focused on Sunday [against Leicester] that I am hardly thinking of what will be next.”

Post-match postbag / obligatory US-election reference. “As Joe Biden Ruud Van Nistelrooy departs the scene, I wonder if the new man in charge at Old Trafford is as good as people say,” wonders Simon McMahon. “If so, maybe he can Make Antony Great Again? I’d pay cash money to see him wearing a red baseball cap with those words on the front at his unveiling.”

All the evening games in the Europa League have finished now. Other than United’s victory, the eye-catching results are Ajax’s 5-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, Ferencvaros’s 4-0 victory against Dynamo Kyiv, and Lazio’s 2-1 win against Porto. The three points United secured tonight ping them up the table to 15th spot.

Amad Diallo speaks to TNT Sports. “Nice … it’s been a long time … today we showed we were the best team on the pitch … it’s important to score every time … I’m happy to score two today … when I score I like to celebrate with the fans and make people enjoy … I was happy … we have to press the opponent … I do my job … since [Ruud van Nistelrooy] has arrived in Manchester United he has been important for everyone … he is very close to the players … very important to this team.”

Yet another curate’s egg of a performance by Manchester United. They deserved to win, Amad Diallo scoring two fine second-half goals, undressing Abdul Rahman Baba on both occasions. Diallo should have been awarded a penalty, too, having been clipped by the hapless Baba in the first half. And yet the hosts gave up chances, Tarik Tissoudali particularly guilty of passing up an opportunity midway through the second half that should have drawn his side level. But a result was what United needed most of all, and the win – breaking a sequence of six European fixtures without a victory – revives their flagging Europa League campaign. It gives new boss Rúben Amorim something to work with when Bodø/Glimt come to town in three weeks’ time.

United end their 380-day wait for a win in Europe, with Amad Diallo their two-goal hero.

90 min +3: Casemiro is clipped by Shoretire, and his blood is boiling. Fortunately there are players a-plenty in between, and the referee then tells everyone to pipe down.

90 min +2: The PAOK fans still giving it plenty. They’ve enjoyed their evening, and their team have given United a good game.

90 min +1: Zirkzee sprays a pass wide left for Fernandes, who feeds Rashford on the overlap. Rashford enters the box and strokes a low shot across Kotarski and inches wide of the bottom-right corner. That would have been a fine team goal.

90 min: Hojlund makes way for Zirkzee. There will be four additional minutes.

89 min: Mount tries to release Rashford down the left with a diagonal pass. Intercepted. Fernandes tries again. Rashford has doubled back on his run this time. Rashford can’t catch a break right now.

87 min: Rashford plays a cute reverse pass down the left to release Hojlund, who powers into the box only to shoot wide left. The flag pops up for offside anyway.

85 min: Casemiro is booked for using a hand to stop a potential counter-attack. He’ll happily take it.

84 min: Taison is replaced by Shola Shoretire, who remains the youngest player to turn out for Manchester United in European competition. Warm applause as he takes to the pitch.

83 min: That chance spurned by Tissoudali looks so important now. For the first time tonight, PAOK look a beaten docket.

81 min: Diallo gets up, no harm done, but is replaced anyway by Mount. As he departs, he receives the warm ovation a two-goal hero deserves.

80 min: Diallo goes down, feeling his left leg. On comes the physio.

79 min: A slight deflection on Diallo’s shot, but take nothing away from the young winger. A glorious finish nonetheless, and what an effort to strip possession from Baba, who has been thoroughly out-battled and schooled by Diallo for both goals.

United had gone seriously flat. Diallo has pumped them up again! He steals the ball off a snoozing Baba, drives down the right, takes a touch infield, and curls an unstoppable shot across Kotarski and into the top left. What a goal! Out of absolutely nothing. United’s hero tonight, without question … and he should have won a penalty as well.

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76 min: Another PAOK change as Camara is replaced by Despodov.

75 min: Martinez leaves a little bit on Živković’s ankle, and for a brief second it threatens to kick off, the United defender apologising, the PAOK attacker having none of it. But cool heads eventually prevail, with a little assistance from the referee, who channels his inner Joe Biden by insisting everyone “bring down the temperature”.

73 min: United continue to sit deep. More of the PAOK passing. Bakayoko shanks a dreadful pass out of play for a throw, relieving the pressure on the hosts. On the touchline, PAOK coach Răzvan Lucescu descends into a deep funk.

71 min: Fernandes ships possession cheaply in the centre circle, after which PAOK knock it around this way and that. Taison at the heart of most of it. A corner is won out on the right, but nothing comes of it. United, past masters in giving up leads this season, want to watch themselves here.

70 min: United are sitting back a bit too much here. PAOK seeing more of the ball at the moment.

68 min: The second half was rattling along until all those subs. Now, not so much.

66 min: PAOK respond with a double change of their own, replacing Schwab and Tissoudali with Chalov and Bakayoko.

65 min: Ruud van Nistelrooy makes a triple change. Eriksen, Rashford and Martinez come on for Dalot, Ugarte and Garnacho.

64 min: PAOK should be level. Baba and Taison combine elegantly down the left. The ball’s worked diagonally into the box and finds Tissoudali alone, six yards out. He has to score. But he flaps at his shot, which rolls sadly towards Onana, who nevertheless claims well.

62 min: Fernandes drops deep and nearly releases Garnacho down the left with a screeching diagonal rake, but Jonny spots the danger and intercepts. Great football all round.

60 min: United have really gone through the gears since the restart. Garnacho sashays into the box and cocks his leg back to shoot, only to go over after making contact with Jonny. No penalty, and this one’s the correct decision, because Garnacho kicked Jonny rather than the other way around. But this is so much better from the home side.

59 min: Diallo races onto a beautiful first-time Fernandes pass down the inside-right channel and blasts straight at Kotarski, who does his best Peter Schmeichel impression to block. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.

58 min: Garnacho finds himself in space out left. He cuts the ball back for Dalotk, who balloons a shot miles over the bar from the edge of the box. The PAOK fans still in good voice, despite their team’s start to the half.

56 min: Schwab takes the free kick, a daisy-flattener rather than a daisy-cutter, the ball rolling miserably towards Onana. The keeper is then cheekily stopped from bowling the ball out quickly, and Tissoudali goes into the book.

55 min: Ugarte is booked for cynically nudging Taison from behind, as the Brazilian advances down the inside-right channel. A free kick just right of centre, the best part of 30 yards out.

53 min: … but after all that effort in finally hitting the lead, United nearly immediately give it up. Živković is allowed to stride into the box down the right and whip a low drive into the side netting. He should have hit the target at the very least. PAOK should probably be level in the shortest of orders.

52 min: VAR checks for a foul on Baba, but there’s no way the goal’s being chalked off. Diallo, despite the size difference, eased Baba out of the road with ease, and what a delightful header placed across goal and towards the left post. Fine assist by Fernandes, too.

Kotarski’s had a save to make now … and he can’t manage it! Fernandes, on the lefthand corner of the PAOK box, wedges a diagonal cross towards Diallo on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Diallo outmuscles Baba, nudging the defender out of the way and guiding a delicious header across the keeper and into the left-hand side of the net!

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49 min: The corner’s worked back to Diallo, whose snapshot is blocked by Camera. A fast-ish start to the half from United, but Kotarski still hasn’t had a save to make.

48 min: Hojlund drives down the left and feeds Dalot on the overlap. Dalot looks for Fernandes in the box but the ball’s hooked out for a corner. The set piece leads to a little pinball, and Casemiro has a whack that is blocked and cleared. But United come again, down the left once more, through Garnacho this time. Another corner is won.

46 min: Space for Mazraoui down the right. He angles a pass into the box for Fernandes, who had unfortunately given up on his run. The crowd groan again.

PAOK get the second half underway. No changes.

Half-time reading. Who was there to save the man who saved Alex Ferguson? Mark Robins, who came this close to winning promotion to the Premier League for Coventry City and taking the club to their second FA Cup final, was surprisingly sent packing today. Football, eh? Bloody hell.

There’s just enough time for Fernandes to dance his way into a dangerous position on the right-hand edge of the PAOK six-yard box, but his pull-back is dummied by Diallo towards nobody at all, and the crowd groan in frustration as the visitors blooter clear. Then the whistle goes. United trudge off having been their usual blunt selves, confidence ebbing away towards the end of the half. PAOK, who grew in confidence, could easily have scored at least one. Having said all that, United should surely have been awarded a penalty for Baba’s clip on Diallo. Improvements needed all round.

45 min: There will be one additional first-half minute.

44 min: Camara slips Baba into space down the left. Baba dribbles along the byline and cuts back, hoping to tee up Živković, six yards out. A deflection takes the ball away from the PAOK attacker, and United let out a huge collective sigh of relief.

43 min: Another shot of Van Nistelrooy in his boutique knitwear. I’m pretty sure that’s a gold zip. Perhaps it’s bronze. Or even silver, coloured by the Old Trafford floodlights bouncing off the underside of Ruud’s chin like a buttercup. That reminds me, I need to book an eye test.

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41 min: Casemiro curls a cross in from the right, looking for Hojlund. Kędziora heads clear without too much fuss. The PAOK fans continue to provide most of the soundtrack.

39 min: Camara brings down Baba’s left-wing cross on the left-hand edge of the United D. He spins and hits a rising half-volley that Onana does very well to tip over the bar. That was heading in. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but that’s as close as either side have come to scoring. A superb effort chiselled out of not very much.

37 min: Fernandes slips a pass down the right for Diallo, whose dribble into the box isn’t so confident this time. He runs into the nearest defender and the visitors clear their lines.

35 min: On the touchline, Ruud van Nistelrooy, the glistening gold zip of his roll-neck cardigan swinging gently in the breeze, looks on impassively. There’s not a great deal to get excited about right now.