Two weeks after he stood on the touchline in Istanbul bristling with indignation, Amad Diallo walked barefoot across Old Trafford with a beaming smile on Thursday night, taking the applause from those fans who had stayed around to celebrate Manchester United’s first win in Europe for more than a year.
From sulky substitute to two-goal hero. Who knows what Ruud van Nistelrooy said to Diallo when he wrapped a consoling arm around him in Turkey as he prepared to come on in the 89th minute, but quite a lot has changed since then.
Van Nistelrooy has replaced Erik ten Hag as the man in charge of this team – for a few more days at least – and the scowl on Diallo’s face has given way to a grin.
Not that we should get too carried away, of course. This was another stodgy performance by United who started with £400million-worth of players against a PAOK team that only qualified for this stage of the competition after winning a play-off against Shamrock Rovers.
They played ‘Glory, Glory Man United’ at the final whistle but were fooling no-one. Old Trafford was emptying fast, there were swathes of empty red seats and the visiting Greek fans from Thessaloniki were still in good voice, as they had been all evening.
Amad Diallo stole the show with a superb performance as Manchester United beat PAOK 2-0
He put on a masterclass ahead of the arrival of new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim
It was a crucial win for Man United, who were in dire need of their first Europa League victory
It was very different to the scenes that saw United’s new head coach Ruben Amorim swept out of the Estadio Jose Alvalade on a wave of emotion on Tuesday night after a barnstorming win over Manchester City in his penultimate game as Sporting Lisbon boss.
Amorim is leaving a team lying second in the Champions League and top of the table in Portugal for one that has climbed up to 15th in the Europa League and been struggling in the lower reaches of the Premier League.
He will start his new job on Monday with the bar set low thanks to games like this one as United laboured to victory thanks to Diallo’s two second-half goals on what was his first start for more than a month.
Did that motivate him? ‘Apparently so,’ smiled Van Nistelrooy. ‘He’s a great character and a hard worker. He shows it in every training session.
‘Every day he comes to me and wants to do extra finishing, crossing and one-on-ones. “How can I improve my shooting, my heading?” He is constantly focused on learning and very motivated to get the most from his career.’
Van Nistelrooy inherited a bad hand from Erik ten Hag and has played it to the best of his ability. United are now unbeaten in the three games since Ten Hag’s departure.
But very little has changed, in truth. There were too many similarities with the Europa League draws against FC Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce to think a corner has been turned.
Van Nistelrooy will take charge of Sunday’s game at home to Leicester City and then wait to see it he has a place in the new set-up. The indications are that he probably won’t.
Red Devils interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy celebrates after Diallo’s sensational opener
Peeling away at the back post, the winger looped his header over the goalkeeper to score
Diallo’s second was just as sublime, curling his effort into the corner of the net from distance
And then the Amorim era will begin. At least, he will arrive with United’s European prospects looking up. The next game is at Old Trafford against Bodo Glimt in three weeks’ time, and he will fancy his chances of winning that one.
By then, United could be playing his favoured 3-4-3 formation and it remains to be seen what that means for the wingers in this United squad like Diallo.
The 22-year got the nod ahead of Marcus Rashford here and was United’s brightest player long before he found the net.
The little Ivorian had a decent shout for a penalty turned down when Abdul Rahman Baba trod on his foot, inflicting an injury that required treatment and explained his barefoot appearance at the end.
The first thing he did after coming back on was to swing a cross to the edge of the six-yard box where Rasmus Hojlund headed United’s best chance of a turgid first half straight at goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski. It was typical of another frustrating night for Hojlund.
Alejandro Garnacho was having less joy on the left after his brush with a disgruntled fan outside Old Trafford before the match. After misplacing several passes, he did manage to pick out Diallo at the far post, but Baba made a crucial interception.
It took less than five minutes after the restart for United to make the breakthrough. Given what had gone before, it was no surprise that Diallo was the man to do it but no-one would have expected the 5ft 8in winger to score with a header.
Bruno Fernandes had the ball on the left and spotted Diallo drifting behind Baba at the back-post. The cross was spot-on and so was the header, looping over Kotarski and in off the far post.
Diallo thought he had won Man United a penalty in the first half, but the spot-kick wasn’t given
The winger’s brilliant night was marred by a knock he picked up, which forced his substitution
United couldn’t hold onto leads against Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce, and they very nearly gave up this one within a matter of seconds as Andrija Zivkovic raced onto a pass inside the box and fired just part the post.
Having tipped over Mady Camara’s effort, Andre Onana also saved at close range from Tarik Tissoudali before Diallo wrapped up victory in the 77th minute.
He punished Baba for showboating at the back, smuggling the ball away from the defender to break on goal. There was only one thought on his mind and the shot took a nick off Omar Colley on its way in.