PARIS: Manchester United earned their first Europa League win with a 2-0 victory over PAOK Thessaloniki, Tottenham Hotspur’s perfect start ended with a 3-2 loss at Galatasaray and Lazio top the standings after a 2-1 victory over Porto on Thursday.

Ajax strolled to a 5-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, Athletic Bilbao came from behind to beat Ludogorets 2-1 and Anderlecht were denied joining Lazio on top as a late own goal left them with a draw in Latvia at RFS.

Two second-half goals from Amad Diallo gave United their first success in this season’s competition, coming under interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy after they had drawn the previous three games with Erik ten Hag was in charge.

United’s last win in Europe was against Copenhagen in the Cham­pions League on Oct 24 last year.

“We addressed that in the dressing room and it was time to change that, so we did,” Van Nistelrooy said.

Diallo, often overlooked by Tten Hag, put United ahead five minutes after the break at Old Trafford when he met a Bruno Fernandes cross with a looping header which found the far corner.

The Ivorian winger secured the hosts a much-needed three points with 13 minutes remaining with a deflected shot from outside the area that nestled into the bottom corner.

“He [Diallo] has been incredible in training, he always trains well and is asking me to do more,” Van Nistelrooy said.

It’s two wins from three games for United under Van Nistelrooy, who has one more match — against Leicester City on Sunday — before handing over to Ruben Amorim after the international break.

It is not clear if there will be a role for the Dutchman after his temporary reign, but he is doing what he can to ensure that United is in the best possible position for when Amorim takes charge.

“Sunday is another one and I’m so focused on doing that so I’m not thinking of what is next.”

Ten Hag was fired last week after a woeful start to the campaign left the team in 14th place in the Premier League and without a win in Europe’s secondary competition.

Amorim was quickly hired in his place, but it has been left to Van Nistelrooy to fill the gap while the Portuguese serves a notice period at Sporting Lisbon.

He has delivered wins in the English League Cup and the Europa League either side of a draw with Chelsea in the league.

United have six points in the standings, three behind Spurs who despite going down to 10 men almost made a dramatic comeback in Istanbul where Victor Osimhen scored twice for the hosts and Will Lankshear grabbed his first goal for Spurs before being sent off.

“We expected it to be a difficult match. We encountered a team as we expected. They have dangerous players,” said Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou. “We lost because we could not show what we wanted in the first half. Both teams are doing well in Europe.”

Galatasaray took an early lead when Yunus Akgun smashed a sensational long-range volley into the top corner in the sixth minute.

But the visitors hit back just 12 minutes later as teenage striker Lankshear marked just his second first-team appearance with a goal by tapping in Brennan Johnson’s pass across the six-yard box.

Galatasaray took control before half-time, though, as Osimhen scored twice in the space of eight minutes.

Radu Dragusin was caught napping at the back in the 31st minute and was dispossessed by Mauro Icardi. The ball fell to Dries Mertens who slipped a pass to Osimhen and the Nigerian striker found the bottom corner for his first goal in Europe for Galatasaray.

Osimhen struck again six minutes from the break, cleverly volleying Dries Mertens’ cross past Tottenham goalkeeper Fraser Forster. He has now scored six goals in eight appearances for Galatasaray since joining on loan from Napoli.

The home side passed up several opportunities to put the game out of sight for their opponents, but Spurs’ hopes of a comeback were hit when Lankshear was sent off for two yellow-card offences in quick succession in the second half.

Dominic Solanke back-heeled Pedro Porro’s cross into the net to pull one back in the 69th minute, shortly after being brought on by Postecoglou, but Galatasaray held on with relative comfort.

The Turkish champions have 10 points from four games and have all but secured qualification for at least the knock-out play-off round.

LAZIO TOP

Lazio are the only team with four wins from four games after Pedro Rodriguez scored an injury-time winner against Porto.

The Italian side went ahead at the end of the first half through Alessio Romagnoli’s header but Porto drew level through Stephen Eustaquio.

It looked like Lazio would have to settle for a draw but with time running out Pedro turned a cross from Gustav Isaksen into the net.

Anderlecht could have joined them on 12 points, with Mario Stroeykens putting them ahead five minutes from time but RFS snatched a draw deep into added time when Moussa N’diaye put the ball into his own net.

Bilbao moved on to 10 points with their comeback win in Bulgaria against Ludogorets after Inaki Williams and Nicolas Serrano scored second-half goals in quick succession.

Ajax are also on 10 after cruising to victory over Maccabi with goals from Bertrand Traore, Kenneth Taylor, Mika Godts, Brian Brobbey and Kian Fitz-Jim.

Omar Marmoush’s 13th goal of the season clinched Eintracht Frankfurt, who are fourth behind Galatasaray on goals scored, a 1-0 win against Slavia Prague.

The Egyptian clipped a superb free-kick in off the crossbar shortly after the break.

AS Roma’s disappointing form this season continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Union Saint-Gilloise where Gianluca Mancini put the them ahead before Kevin MacAllister equalised for the Belgian side, which leaves the Italians down in 20th on five points.

Elsewhere, Rangers held last year’s Conference League champions Olympiakos to a 1-1 stalemate in Greece, while three substitutes netted for Alkmaar in its 3-1 victory over Fenerbahce, the first loss of the competition for Jose Mourinho’s team.

Hoffenheim and Olympique Lyonnais both scored deep into added time in a dramatic 2-2 draw, while Qarabag upset Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in Norway to earn their first points.

Nice drew 2-2 with Twente with both teams finishing the game reduced to 10 men.

In the Conference League, a much-changed Chelsea romped to an 8-0 thrashing of Armenians Noah at Stamford Bridge.

Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku both netted doubles for the Blues, with Mykhailo Mudryk, Axel Disasi, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo all also on the scoresheet.

Chelsea are one of six teams with three wins after three games.

Vitoria beat Mladá Boleslav 2-1, Jagellonia defeated Molde 3-0 and Heidenheim won 2-0 at Hearts.

Earlier, Legia Warsaw routed Di­namo Minsk 4-0 and SK Rapid eased past Petrocub 3-0.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024