Amad Diallo ends Manchester United’s European drought by beating Paok | Europa League

Hold your hat: Manchester United are victorious in Europe after three straight draws and three more without a win in the Europa League last season.

So ended a 380-day drought that led to a 1-0 win over FC Copenhagen at Old Trafford on October 24, 2023, thanks to Amad Diallo, whose explosive wing play was crowned with a brace. The first was a clever header in the 51st minute. The second attack showed his aggressiveness as he ambushed Abdul Baba on the right, shrugged off the defender’s abuse and then fired a deflected shot into the left corner.

Previously, however, United lacked the ability to eliminate Paok long before the end and put themselves on cruise control. Rúben Amorim should know that anyway, but United’s new manager, if he watches, will understand the magnitude of the challenge of transforming the group he takes over on Monday.

United’s results in continental competition this season have been 1-1 against Twente, 3-3 at Porto and 1-1 at Fenerbahce. Hardly a roll call, and when Ruud van Nistelrooy dropped or swapped Lisandro Martínez and Matthijs de Ligt for Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelöf in central defense and Diallo for Marcus Rashford in attack, one wondered whether there would be three points in the end.

The first half suggested this wasn’t the case. Razvan Lucescu lined up his Greek champions in a 4-2-3-1 that was a carbon copy of Van Nistelrooy’s form, and Mady Camara, the visitors’ number 10, showed a familiar fault line as she ran into a gap in midfield, passed and conceded later in the game move, then shoot. Camara was Paok’s Bruno Fernandes: a playmaker who knows how to put himself in the pocket and lead his team.

The United captain did this when he appeared in the left corner of Paok’s penalty area and passed the ball to Diallo, whose cross was cleared. Then came a buccaneering sequence reminiscent of a vintage Sir Alex Ferguson.

Diallo danced across the infield and fed Nassour Mazraoui, who played the ball back out to the right. This prompted Casemiro to run on and fire an immediate shot at the far post, where a lurking Alejandro Garnacho headed against Jonny’s arm, but Radu Petrescu’s decision was a corner rather than a penalty. The referee – and VAR – made the same decision when Diallo later went down during a Baba challenge.

Diallo was United’s bright spot. His next move was to drop the ball onto Rasmus Højlund’s head, but when he turned it, the centre-forward’s header was insipid. A ball possession rate of 65.2% demonstrated the dominance of the home team. As always, the problem lay in the execution in the final third. Previously, Garnacho had sent a simple pass to an overlapping colleague in Paok’s penalty area. Now he did the same, again after a shot through a left inside channel, this time it was Diogo Dalot who missed.

Paok was lurking, waiting to pounce on any negligence from United. For example, when lightweight Manuel Ugarte was pressured on the halfway line, leading to Andrija Zivkovic hammering a 20-yard shot into the clutches of André Onana.

This was an indication that United could suffer if their profligacy was not cured. Diallo was just inches away when he pounced on Garnacho’s cross. But he, not the ball, landed in the goal and Baba blocked it.

As they headed for half-time – almost behind thanks to a Camara missile that burned Onana’s fingertips as he deflected it – the account of United’s first 45 minutes was toothless. Impotence is also the story of her election campaign so far. Van Nistelrooy, a ruthless assassin as United’s striker, had to deal with this problem as his troops headed off for half-time refreshments.

More of the same followed. This time Garnacho managed to find Dalot on the overlap, but he failed to find Fernandes with a regular pass as he arrived in Paok’s penalty area. So Fernandes showed the defender how it’s done when United finally discovered the ruthlessness. On the left, Garnacho looked up and tapped his captain, who put a precise ball in play, whereupon the excellent Diallo jumped and shot a header across goal that wrong-footed Dominik Kotarski, the visitors’ goalkeeper.

Fernandes was United’s focal point. He then set up Diallo again with a winding pass: the striker ran in but was able to parry his attempt. United once again had a wealth of chances, but too many were wasted. Dalot shot over the goal, Fernandes followed suit, and in between Garnacho went onto the turf in the penalty area under the attention of Tomasz Kedziora and Jonny, and once again Petrescru’s decision not to take a penalty was in doubt.

Tarik Tissoudali worried United just before goal, but his nerves gave out and he shot straight into Onana’s gloves. Shortly after Diallo’s second, he injured his leg and was substituted, although he appeared to be fine. United will be hoping to do so ahead of Sunday’s visit of Leicester.