Substitutes Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial sparked a comeback win in Cyprus as Manchester United survived a scare against Neil Lennon’s Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League.
Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils made the 2,100-mile trip for Thursday’s Group E encounter reeling from Sunday’s chastening 6-3 derby defeat at rivals Manchester City.
The United boss thanked Pep Guardiola’s side for the “reality check” ahead of the trip to Cyprus, where Omonia threatened an even greater shock after Karim Ansarifard struck a dream opener for the hosts.
But ex-Celtic boss Lennon could not celebrate a famous win as Rashford’s brace and a strike from Martial set up a comeback victory that ended 3-2 thanks to Nikolas Panayiotou’s late goal.
FT: Omonia 2-3 Man Utd
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xG: 1.64-2.97
United save face in Cyprus. pic.twitter.com/PPWr0oT83v
In the Europa Conference League, Gianluca Scamacca climbed off the bench to give West Ham a 1-0 win at Anderlecht and put them in firm control of Group B.
The Italian scored with a clinical finish to make it three wins from three matches of the third-tier competition for the Londoners and effectively put one foot in the knockout stages.
It needed the £35million signing to do the damage nine minutes after coming on, but the Hammers could have had it wrapped up long before that in Belgium.
David Moyes’ side wasted a host of chances, with Said Benrahma guilty of several glaring misses, but they got the job done and return to London unscathed ahead of Sunday’s derby with Fulham.
