Amad the only bright light as pedestrian Man Utd remind Ruben Amorim of the size of his task

Thank goodness for Amad Diallo.

by scoring both goals to haul to their first European victory in 13 months. Incoming boss will have breathed a huge sigh of relief back in Portugal and he has a huge task on his hands turning around the drifting supertanker that is United.

Amorim signed off at Sporting Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade Stadium by and he won’t repeat that scoreline when United visit the Etihad next month based on this.

United spluttered before getting their Europa League campaign up and running and the brilliant Diallo headed home their opener before curling home a superb second to take his tally for the season to three.

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United rode their luck and Andre Onana was called on too many times while PAOK striker Tarik Tissoudali fluffed the easiest chance from 12 yards out. Apart from Diallo, there was a real lack of energy about United, even though caretaker boss Ruud van Nistelrooy only made three changes from Sunday.

Too many of them tried to cruise through in second gear and at times they were made to look ordinary by PAOK. PAOK, who had won just three of their previous nine games before Thursday night, were far too comfortable on the ball and United’s press was not existent.

Their back four and Manuel Ugarte did not break forward and they lacked intensity. Amorim has a few backsides to kick if he is going to haul them up the Premier League and get them challenging for silverware.

United’s European form coming into Thursday night was dreadful and they had won only one of their last 11 games to endure their worst run since the early 1980s. PAOK’s Mady Camara had a shot deflected wide before Andrija Zivkovic cut in from the left and curled a shot wide of the target.

United finally got going and Alejandro Garnacho’s header from Casemiro’s cross hit Jonny and went behind. The home side had a strong penalty appeal turned down by referee Radu Petrescu and VAR when Abdul Rahman Baba appeared to foul Diallo.

Rasmus Hojlund continues to under-perform for United and the Denmark striker headed weakly at PAOK goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski and he needs to be much more of a threat. PAOK got closer and Onana saved a fizzing shot from Zivkovic before Camara brilliantly controlled the ball and hit a dipping effort, which United’s Cameroon goalkeeper touched over.

United spared their blushes when Diallo headed them in front on 50 minutes. Bruno Fernandes sent over a deep cross to the back post and Diallo headed the ball across goal and into the net to the delight of Van Nistelrooy.

PAOK responded and Zivkovic fired wide before skipper Stefan Schwab’s low free-kick was saved by Onana. Fernandes then released Diallo and Kotarski did well to block his shot for a corner. United continued to live dangerously and they left Tissoudali unmarked on the penalty spot, only for the PAOK striker to shoot straight at Onana from Taison’s ball.

Diallo pushed United over the line to victory with an excellent second goal on 77 minutes. He robbed Baba on the right and held off his attempts to foul him before curling home a left-footed shot past Kotarski.

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