Manchester United eked past Cyprus’ Omonia Nicosia to register a 3-2 win for their second win in the Europa League while their Premier League rivals, Arsenal, fared better with an easy victory over FK Bodø/Glimt.
United needed a response after the weekend thrashing at the hands of Man City but went a goal down after Karim Ansarifard the hosts a shock lead after Antony and Bruno Fernandes had missed their chances to score first.
Ten Hag’s decision to pull Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia in favour of Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford paid dividends as the forward turned the game on its head. After just eight minutes of his introduction, the forward equalised the scores before setting up Martial in the 63rd minute to give his side the lead.
Cristiano Ronaldo, still searching for his 700th club goal, then missed an open goal to continue his goal drought this season but managed to set up Rashford for his second goal in the 84th minute.
While the win looked certain from there, Omonia immediately got one goal back through Nikolas Panagiotou but failed to find the equaliser for a memorable point.
The win over Omonia leaves Manchester United second on the table of Europa League Group E behind Real Sociedad who remain perfect after their 2-0 win over Sherrif.
Meanwhile, the Premier League leaders Arsenal had no such trouble against their opponents, FK Bodø/Glimt, with Eddie Nketiah, Rob Holding and Fabio Vieira netting in a routine 3-0 win at home.
Real Betis managed to spring a surprise on AS Roma, beating the Serie A chasing side 2-1 at their home.
Monaco, PSV, Union Berlin, Fenerbache, Rennes, and Qarabag FK also registered wins.