Manchester United - Omonia 1-0
McTominay broke Omonia Nicosia hearts with a 93rd minute winner to seal a crucial three points for Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League (UEL). It took the Old Trafford outfit 34 shots to break the Cypriot side’s defences on a night of wastefulness from United.
Having fallen behind in the reverse fixture, Erik ten Hag named a strong starting side as he looked to avoid a repeat of the nerves of last week’s meeting. United were straight onto the attack, forcing stand-in goalkeeper Francis Uzoho into a spectacular early save to deny Marcus Rashford.
The Red Devils continued to press for an opener and Uzoho was on hand to smother Rashford again after the Omonia surrendered the ball in the final third.
The Nigerian shot-stopper remained busy and denied Rashford for a third time, getting fingertips to an effort that was destined for the bottom corner.
The visitors were under relentless pressure and Uzoho was the only man preventing United taking the lead. His best save of the half came to deny Casemiro a first goal for the club, tipping his long-range effort onto the bar.
Fred and Casemiro both missed headers before the break, but United were very nearly caught cold by Neil Lennon’s men on the counter. Bruno broke away down the left and had a golden opportunity to square to Andronikos Kakoullis for a tap-in, but he opted to shoot instead, blazing high and wide of David De Gea’s goal, enraging his manager in the process.
The hosts rattled in 15 shots in the first half, more than any other side in this season’s competition within 45 minutes, but ultimately had nothing to show for their efforts and needed to sharpen up their attack.
Within 25 seconds of the restart, United spurned further chances to break the deadlock. Uzoho denied Antony, before brilliantly scrambling across his goal to deny Rashford on the rebound.
United continue to waste chance after chance, with Rashford played in on goal only to fire wide. Moments later, Fernandes missed at the near post from Jadon Sancho’s pull-back, with Ronaldo hitting the side-netting shortly afterwards.
Late substitute McTominay was denied by Uzoho shortly after coming on, but he would be the man to finally break the most stubborn of rearguards. Sancho’s deflected cross dropped to the Scotsman, who drove his effort low and hard, proving too powerful for the heroic Uzoho.
A crucial late goal kept United’s hopes of automatic qualification to the last 16 alive, but Omonia enhanced their reputation with an incredible display of defending.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Francis Uzoho (Omonia Nicosia)
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PSV - Zurich 5-0
PSV Eindhoven won a fourth straight home game against Swiss opposition by thrashing FC Zurich 5-0, seeing Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men remain unbeaten in UEFA Europa League and in pole position to qualify for the knockout stages.
Coming into the campaign as one of the favourites to advance to the knockouts from Group A, PSV needed to flex their muscles at home and break away from the pack.
They got off to a flying start in that effort by snatching the lead within 15 minutes of the opening whistle, as Erick Gutierrez stabbed home a parried ball from close range.
It went from good to great for the hosts minutes later when Joey Veerman was given far too much space in the 18-yard box and the midfielder curled a shot into the bottom corner to double PSV’s lead.
The game was put out of reach 10 minutes before the break when Ibrahim Sangare headed home the Dutch club’s third from point-blank range.
Despite having the three points all but wrapped up, the Rood-witten did not take their foot off the gas on the other side of the break.
It only took the hosts 10 minutes to find a fourth, and Joey Veerman’s second on the night, as the Dutchman replicated his first-half strike with a curling effort from the edge of the box.
After a late goal from second half substitute Anwar El Ghazi, PSV slowed their tempo down and controlled the ball in a professional manner to see out the resounding victory.
Having come into the night only registering one away victory in the UEL in club history, a thrashing at the hands of one of the Netherlands’ premier clubs will have come as no surprise. To make matters worse, zero points from four games sees the Swiss side knocked out of the competition without so much as a whimper.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joey Veerman (PSV Eindhoven)
Find out all the stats from PSV's win with Flashscore.
Elsewhere in the Europa League
Ludogorets jumped up to second in Group C with an impressive 2-0 win over HJK, giving the Bulgarian side of getting out of a group that contains Real Betis and Roma. Danny Gropper and Rick scored either side of half time, earning the hosts their second win of the campaign.
Union Berlin kept their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages with an 89th minute penalty from Robin Knoche to give the Bundesliga league leaders a priceless 1-0 win over Malmo.
In Manchester United's Group E, Real Sociedad continued their dominant form with a 4-0 win over 10-man Sheriff Tiraspol.
Alexander Sorloth opened the scoring on the brink of half-time before second half goals from Diego Rico and Robert Navarro.
In Group F's late game, Lazio were held to a 2-2 draw by a valiant Sturm Graz. Pedro gave the Romans a second-half 2-1 lead but a late goal from teenager William Boving gave the Austrian side a deserved point, leaving all four teams in the group on five points with two games to play.
Trabzonspor shocked Monaco by beating them 4-0 in Turkey, shaking up Group H in the process. An own goal got the scoring started just before the break and Trezeguet finished it all off in the 69th minute after a 21-minute blitz from the Turkish side. They sit second in the group, three points behind Ferencvaros, who beat Red Star Belgrade 2-1.
