For a club who have been champions of Europe three times, a win in continental competition really shouldn’t be such a rarity. But it was 380 days since Manchester United had tasted victory against foreign opposition. Now, finally, they have.
That year-long wait had formed one of the damning statistics that engulfed Erik ten Hag towards the end of his reign. After arguably United’s worst ever European campaign last season – certainly among those to feature a group stage – came a trio of draws. Ruud van Nistelrooy can at least succeeded where Ten Hag had failed, chalking up a Europa League triumph at the first time of asking, even if his victims are winless in this competition.
Amad Diallo struck twice and starred to defeat PAOK. It may prove a timely display of excellence, with a new manager to impress. It gave a belated kickstart to United’s Europa League campaign. They rise to the dizzying heights of 15th. Ruben Amorim will trade a club second in the Champions League for one rather lower in the junior competition but at least with the table looking a little less ignominious.
United’s record on the continent still requires plenty of improvement. It was just their second win in 12 European games; the other still required an injury-time penalty save from Andre Onana. Whereas Ten Hag’s debut season featured a wonderful win over Barcelona, United have been European underachievers for 19 months. Some would say they have been since the 2011 Champions League final.
Relatively modest as this scoreline was, it was still their biggest win in Europe since March 2023. It also represented a welcome improvement after a first half that was an indictment of United. “It was a pretty poor first half if I’m being nice,” said Van Nistelrooy. The two teams appeared evenly matched. “We created hardly anything,” said Van Nistelrooy. United mustered a lone effort on target.
Amad topped that tally on his own afterwards. He had been United’s brightest performer from the off, surging to the byline, claiming a penalty when caught by Baba Rahman, delivering the enticing cross that Rasmus Hojlund headed at Dominik Kotarski. “He was very sharp,” added Van Nistelrooy. “He is a great character.”
He secured the breakthrough himself with a looping header after Bruno Fernandes’ deep cross. For the captain, it was a welcome change to his fortunes in continental competition: sent off in Porto, he was suspended for the trip to Fenerbahce (Noussair Mazraoui, picked as a No 10 then, was not asked to reprise the role). Diallo, meanwhile, had not begun a game at all since the visit to Portugal.
He finished it with two goals and a standing ovation. “The second goal that had everything in it that is Amad Diallo,” said Van Nistelrooy. He won the ball from Rahman, showed tigerish determination to advance and unleashed a shot that took a sizeable deflection on its way in. It was an illustration that the £85m Antony is not even the best left-footed right winger at Old Trafford.
And it meant that, this time, United managed to shed their drawing habit. They had lost a lead in each of their three previous Europa League games. Before Amad’s second, Tarik Tissoudali should have levelled but shot at Onana when he met Taison’s pass. The goalkeeper, so culpable in Europe last season, had already made a valuable first-half save to tip Mady Camara’s rising half-volley over. With the lively right winger Andrija Zivkovic trying a couple of ambitious efforts, PAOK had an occasional threat.
For United, Fernandes was influential but it could be a cause of concern that Hojlund went a fifth game without a goal. “It didn’t happen enough for him,” said Van Nistelrooy. The £72m man is no nearer to being prolific, whereas Viktor Gyokeres has averaged a goal a game for Amorim at Sporting. Joshua Zirkzee’s cameo, however, means he now averages a goal every 16 appearances for United, whereas even Wout Weghorst had a ration of one every 15.5.
Van Nistelrooy was rather more potent than either in his own playing days. He made a point of raising United’s unenviable record to his players. “A first European win after one year, we addressed that in the dressing room,” he said. He made changes, bringing in Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof at centre-back. There was an element of squad rotation with Marcus Rashford beginning on the bench, while Mason Mount was another substitute, returning after a month out. The injury problems Ten Hag invariably bemoaned are easing while Amad, often a fringe figure, staked his case to be a starter in the new regime. And Amorim will start off with a team who are at least in the top half of the Europa League.