Diallo ends Manchester United's European drought; 10-man Spurs ...
Two goals from Amad Diallo ended Manchester United’s winless drought in Europe, beating Paok 2-0 at Old Trafford.
The first was a clever 51st-minute header. The second proved an exhibition of aggressiveness as he mugged Abdul Baba along the right, shrugged off the latter’s manhandling, then fired a laser into the left corner, via a deflection.
But before that United lacked the high-grade ability to kill off Paok well before the close and place themselves in cruise control. Rúben Amorim should know this, anyway, but United’s incoming new manager, if watching, will comprehend the size of the challenge to transform the quasi-lost band he takes over on Monday.
United’s results in continental competition this season were 1-1 versus Twente, 3-3 at Porto and 1-1 at Fenerbahce. Hardly a roll call of honour and when Van Nistelrooy dropped – or rotated – Lisandro Martínez and Matthijs de Ligt for Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelöf in central defence, and Diallo for Marcus Rashford in attack, you wondered whether three points would finally be garnered.
The first half suggested not. Razvan Lucescu configured his Greek champions in a 4-2-3-1 that was a carbon copy of Van Nistelrooy’s shape and Mady Camara, the visiting No 10, exposed a familiar fault line when running into a midfield gap, passing, collecting later in the move, then shooting. Camara was Paok’s Bruno Fernandes: a playmaker adept at materialising in pockets and running his team.
United’s captain did this when popping up at the left angle of Paok’s area and threading the ball to Diallo, whose cross was cleared. Then came a buccaneering sequence reminiscent of a Sir Alex Ferguson vintage.
Diallo jinked about infield, fed Nassour Mazraoui, who switched the ball back out to the right, into space. This invited Casemiro to run on and hit an instant delivery to the far post where a lurking Alejandro Garnacho headed against Jonny’s arm but a corner rather than penalty was Radu Petrescu’s decision. The referee – and the VAR – made the same call when Diallo later went down under a Baba challenge.
Diallo was United’s bright light. His next act was to drop the ball on to Rasmus Højlund’s head but, twisting, the centre-forward’s header was insipid. A 65.2 per cent possession rate illuminated the home team’s dominance. As usual the problem was final-third execution. Earlier, Garnacho had fluffed a simple pass to an overlapping colleague in Paok’s area. Now he did the same, again following a burst through an inside-left channel, this time Diogo Dalot the man who missed.
Paok lurked, waiting to pounce on any United slipshodness. Such as when the lightweight Manuel Ugarte was bullied around the halfway line, leading to Andrija Zivkovic hammering a dipping 20-yard effort into André Onana’s clutches.
Here was a hint that United might suffer if their profligacy was not cured. Diallo was inches from doing so when hurling himself at a Garnacho cross. But he, not the ball, ended up in the goal, Baba scrambling it away.
As they headed for the break – nearly behind due to a Camara rocket that burned Onana’s fingertips on parrying over – toothless was the report of United’s opening 45 minutes. Impotency, too, is the tale of their campaign so far. Van Nistelrooy, a ruthless assassin when United’s striker, needed to address this when his troops trailed off for the interval refreshments.
Yet more of the same followed. Garnacho managed to locate Dalot on the overlap this time but the latter failed to find Fernandes with a regulation pass as he arrived in Paok’s area in classic schemer fashion. So Fernandes showed the defender how it is done, as United discovered ruthless at last. Along the left, Garnacho glanced up and tapped to his captain who chipped in a precise ball that had the excellent Diallo leaping and looping a header back across goal that wrong-footed Dominik Kotarski, the visiting keeper.
Fernandes was United’s hub. Next, he created for Diallo once more with a curving through ball: the forward ran in but saw his attempt saved. United were again serving up a smorgasbord of chances, but too many were spurned. Dalot blazed over, Fernandes did the same, and in between Garnacho went to penalty area turf under the attentions of Tomasz Kedziora and Jonny, and once more Petrescru’s judgment of no spot-kick was dubious.
Tarik Tissoudali put the shivers up United near goal but his nerve failed and he unloaded a shot straight into Onana’s gloves. Soon after Diallo’s second he hurt a leg and was replaced apparently unhurt. United will hope so ahead of Sunday’s visit of Leicester.
In Istanbul, Tottenham played out a breathless, wild encounter against Galatasaray, ending in a 3-2 defeat for the English club.
In truth, Spurs should have been blown to smithereens by hosts who had no idea how to apply the handbrake and had unloaded 28 shots by the end. A stunner from Yunus Akgun and two goals from Victor Osimhen, who had countless other chances, completed their tally by half-time but somehow Ange Postecoglou’s side remained in with a sniff until matters concluded.
That was partly due to a first senior goal for the 19-year-old Will Lankshear, who celebrated in front of a baying home support but was chastened on the hour by a second yellow card. Dominic Solanke offered an unlikely lifeline later on and, although no leveller was forthcoming, this defeat should have little impact on Tottenham’s chances of reaching the knockout stage.
Akgun, who was loaned last season to Leicester, opened the scoring for the home side after five minutes with a sumptuous strike; a masterful exhibition of technique that was all the more impressive given Archie Gray seemed to have done enough in heading Gabriel Sara’s free-kick clear. Running around the ball as it bounced up beyond the D, Akgun connected perfectly and sent it roaring into Fraser Forster’s top left corner.
Then, in a moment the youngster will treasure, the hosts’ stars were eclipsed by Lankshear. They had looked likely to turn the screw, Fraser Forster clearing in front of Osimhen and Akgun shooting waywardly when attempting a repeat, but were clinically picked apart in two passes. One of them was clipped diagonally by Gray into the path of Brennan Johnson; the next was a volleyed cross that Lankshear, showing a scorer’s instinct, jabbed in from close range.
Forster denied a clean-through Osimhen, watched as Mertens blasted the rebound wide, and was fortunate to see the Nigerian have a goal chalked off. But Spurs could hardly be accused of making their own luck and were undone again after the half-hour, Radu Dragusin getting his body shape wrong when receiving a routine pass from Ben Davies and allowing Icardi to nick the ball away. It rolled to Mertens, who slid Osimhen in for a toe-ended finish across Forster and unleashed pandemonium again.
Osimhen saw the whites of Forster’s eyes once more but drew another commendable stop. It was becoming a personal battle and almost immediately he struck another blow. Mertens’ right-sided cross was whipped perfectly and, at waist height, Osimhen cushioned a brilliant finish into the far corner to leave Tottenham praying for the break.
Postecoglou’s answer was to introduce Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski for Johnson and a marginal Son Heung-min, but the pattern continued. Osimhen missed a free header that, in another dimension, might have brought his sixth goal of the game. A fumble by Forster caused a scramble near the line and then Akgun, taking aim again, saw a volley deflected just wide. In the 57th minute Osimhen looked certain to complete his hat-trick at last but Forster, diving the other way, repelled with a trailing foot.
Galarasaray barrage remained constant after the break, made worse for Spurs when Lankshear picked up a second yellow at the hour mark.
Tottenham had been peppered and it seemed almost farcical when the recently introduced Solanke, cutely back-heeling a centre from Pedro Porro, provided hope by making it 3-2. That hope came to nothing, Kulusevski failing to catch Muslera out in added time, but the evening’s entertainment had been bountiful.
Rangers were also in Europa League action, coming from behind to earn a 1-1 draw away to Olympiacos. The Greek side went ahead in the 56th minute with a goal from Ayoub El Kaabi before Cyriel Dessers netted the equaliser eight minutes later. – Guardian
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