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. FULL TIME: Manchester United 2-0 PAOK 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. GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 PAOK (Diallo 77) 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. 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. GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 PAOK (Diallo 50) 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! 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. HALF TIME: Manchester United 0-0 PAOK 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. 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. 33 min: The PAOK fans are making a lot of noise right now. United’s not so much. PAOK respond by stroking the ball around the midfield calmly. 31 min: Garnacho bombs down the left and zips a low ball across the face of the six-yard box. Diallo prepares to sidefoot home, only for Baba to nip in and divert the ball out for a corner, from which nothing comes. 29 min: If PAOK are going to do something in attack, it’s most likely coming from Živković on the right. He cuts in from his flank and whistles a shot straight down Onana’s throat. 27 min: Casemiro and Fernandes one-two down the inside-left channel, the former bursting into the box and preparing to shoot. He’s shouldered off the ball by Kędziora. United fans scream for a penalty but the players don’t really bother. The referee is not interested. The right decision this time; the defender simply standing stronger. 25 min: Diallo and Fernandes have a two-on-one situation down the right, but overthink things and eventually the ball dribbles out for a goal kick. United not quite clicking. 23 min: Dalot fluffs another clearance, nearly allowing Tissoudali to break into space down the middle. Casemiro comes across to help his team-mate out of a hole in the no-nonsense style. A few mutterings from the home crowd as Dalot did his thing. 21 min: Tissoudali chases after a flick-on down the left and enters the box. He’s within his rights to shoot, even though he’s faced with a tight angle, because it’s going to take a hell of a threaded pass to find Živković in the centre. He tries the pass anyway. Bad decision. 19 min: United don’t let it get them down. First up, from the corner, Garnacho has a bang from distance. It’s deflected over for another corner, which is sent back down the line to Diallo, whose deep cross is headed goalward by Hojlund. Straight at the keeper, who snaffles, but the hosts are getting closer and closer. 18 min: VAR check over. No penalty. Baba certainly knocked the ball out for a corner, but only after making contact with Diallo. It looked like a penalty all day long, but who knows anything any more? 17 min: Diallo dribbles in from the right again. Baba Rahman challenges. Diallo falls over as the ball pings out for a corner. But is that a penalty? Baba didn’t connect too much with the ball, but certainly did with Diallo. VAR to check. 16 min: Garnacho crosses from the left. Too strong. Goal kick. Both teams are striving for the opener. Full marks for effort, but neither keeper has had any real work to do yet. 15 min: Fernandes delivers to the near post. The busy Živković clears. 14 min: Casemiro advances down the right and loops long for Garnacho at the far stick. Garnacho head-and-shoulders the ball back infield. Off target, but enough to win a corner. Fernandes takes, and that corner leads to take two. 13 min: Now it’s Dalot’s turn to make a mess of a defensive header. He tees up Živković on the right-hand corner of the United box. Živković opens his body and looks for the stunner into the top left, but gets it all wrong. Half a chance, though. 12 min: Kędziora makes a mess of a simple clearing header and nearly lets Dalot in down the middle. The PAOK defender battles hard to rectify his mistake and eventually tidies up. 10 min: The Old Trafford faithful start up a U-NI-TED chant, hoping to get their team going. Diallo responds with a dribble infield from the right, but Colley is on hand to close down the route. 8 min: Yep, thought as much. PAOK spend a bit of time knocking it around. Živković has another look down the right but is forced to turn tail. The visitors quickly finding their feet. 6 min: … but then PAOK launch their first attack. Živković enters the box down the right and cuts back for Camara, who has a dig from the edge of the box. His shot takes a huge deflection off Casemiro, and on another day might have whistled across the startled Onana and into the bottom left, but there’s not enough speed left on the ball for own-goal shenanigans. That’ll give the visitors confidence, you’d have thought. 4 min: Fernandes is already causing problems in the pocket. He nearly feeds Hojlund, then fails to thread a pass through for Mazraoui. 3 min: Garnacho has the opportunity to slip Fernandes into the box down the left. He clumsily overhits the pass. Goal kick. 2 min: … and so both teams begin their quest for a first win in this Europa League campaign. A quiet start on the pitch, but both sets of fans make their beautiful noise. Manchester United get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Stretford End during this first half. … but first, a moment of solemn reflection to honour those lost to the floods in Spain. Observed with the utmost respect. Here come the teams! Manchester United in their famous red shirts and white shorts with slightly-lighter-red flash, PAOK Salonika in their first-choice black and white Notts County / Newcastle United / Juventus [delete according to preference†] stripes. We’ll be off once coins have been tossed, hands of friendship clasped, corporate anthems played, and pennants swapped. All of the early kick-offs have now finished. A tranche of results that includes a 3-2 defeat for Spurs at Galatasaray, and a resolute 1-1 draw for Rangers at Olympiakos. All of which means that, before United and PAOK pull their boots on, the Europa League Distend-o-Table™ looks like this, both of tonight’s Old Trafford combatants having dropped a couple of places as a result of all that hot action. Ninety minutes coming up to right some wrongs! Ruud van Nistelrooy speaks to TNT Sports. “Good memories … what is most important is to get the lads back at their best … a lot happened … the results were not good … there was a lot of pressure on them … there is no time for me to make big changes … my relationship with the team is very good … as an assistant manager you are closer to the lads than the manager … so that helps me a lot now … we really got it going together … come on, we have four games together, let’s make the most of it … get all the results we can … confidence is such a big thing in football … it affects performances and style … in the Leicester game we scored four in one half and wow, there’s a great attacking style again … it’s a silly thing, the confidence thing in football … when results come, it is like a million dollars for strikers … the lads have to believe … Rasmus is working hard on his hold-up play … Casemiro and Ugarte can communicate well together … they are in control of the moments we press … they are doing really well and we benefit from it.” He’s also asked when he expects to hear whether he’ll be staying on under Ruben Amorim … and straight-bats his answer, just as you’d expect him to. “I focus on this and hopefully soon!” There are a few old friends in the PAOK squad. The most notable for United fans is Shola Shoretire, the 20-year-old winger having joined PAOK in the summer after his Old Trafford contract ran out. He’s on the bench. Baba Rahman, formerly of Chelsea, and Wolves defender Jonny start, while another one-time Pensioner, Tiémoué Bakayoko, is a sub. There’s no room at all for erstwhile Southampton and Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren, though. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penultimate starting selection as interim manager of Manchester United sees the beloved former striker make three changes in the wake of the 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Victor Lindelöf and Jonny Evans replace Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martínez at the back, while Amad Diallo comes in for Marcus Rashford up front. All three displaced players are on the bench, alongside Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount, who return from injury. The teams Man Utd: Onana, Mazraoui, Lindelof, Evans, Dalot, Ugarte, Casemiro, Diallo, Fernandes, Garnacho, Hojlund. Subs: Bayindir, Heaton, de Ligt, Martinez, Mount, Rashford, Zirkzee, Eriksen, Antony, Wheatley, Amass, Fitzgerald. PAOK: Kotarski, Jonny Otto, Kedziora, Colley, Baba, Ozdoev, Schwab, Zivkovic, Camara, Taison, Tissoudali. Subs: Monastirlis, Balomenos, Michailidis, Bakayoko, Chalov, Sastre, Thymianis, Shoretire, Thomas Llamas, Despodov. Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania). Preamble Manchester United have already had one big European victory to celebrate this week. You know the one. You know why. It’s not much of a leap. That’s not to say they couldn’t do with an actual win of their very own, though. United are currently 22nd in the Europa League megatable, after draws of varying degrees of ropiness against Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce. The feelgood factor might be back at Old Trafford in the wake of Erik ten Hag’s dismissal and Ruben Amorim’s impending arrival, but that won’t stop the mood momentarily descending again should United fail to see off the Panthessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans, who may be the reigning Greek champions but are currently 30th in the Europa League table after two losses and a draw; have only won three of their last nine matches in all competitions, losing four; and are 190th in this season’s official Uefa rankings, a full 143 places below their esteemed hosts†. Having said all that, United can’t take anything for granted, given their own shocking form: just two wins in their last ten in all competitions. They’re hot favourites tonight, but then we’ve said that before. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!