Omonia Nicosia 2-3 Man Utd: Player ratings as substitutes Rashford & Martial save the day | OneFootball

Icon: 90min

90min

·6 October 2022

Omonia Nicosia 2-3 Man Utd: Player ratings as substitutes Rashford & Martial save the day

Article image:Omonia Nicosia 2-3 Man Utd: Player ratings as substitutes Rashford & Martial save the day

Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial came off the the bench to spare Manchester United's blushes as they both scored in a 3-2 comeback victory over Cyprus' Omonia Nicosia.

United were caught on the counter as Karim Ansarifard fired home a lovely opener late in the first half, but the introductions of Rashford and Martial in the second half set things right for Erik ten Hag's side as the duo dragged United to three points.


OneFootball Videos


Omonia had ten men behind the ball early on and it took United around ten minutes to manage their first real opportunity. Christian Eriksen played through Antony and the ball found its way to Cristian Ronaldo, whose low drive brought an excellent save out of Omonia stopper Fabiano.

Antony then declined to shoot when one-on-one and instead cut the ball back to Bruno Fernandes, but his pass was behind the Portugal international and the danger was cleared.

Just seconds later, Fernandes hit the bar with a nice lobbed half-volley, before Fabiano pulled out another impressive save to repel a curling effort from Antony.

United threw everything at Omonia to get ahead but were punished 34 minutes in when they sent nine men forward for a free-kick. The last line of defence, Tyrell Malacia, gave the ball away in the Omonia half and the Cypriots countered into an empty United half, with Ansarifard firing past David de Gea to give the hosts a shock lead heading into the break.

Rashford, on to replace Jadon Sancho at the break, tied things up seven minutes into the second half with a delightful strike from the edge of the penalty area.

Martial joined the fun on the hour mark and got himself on the scoresheet just moments after coming on. Combining with Rashford, the Frenchman picked the ball up on the edge of the box and drilled a low effort down into the bottom corner.

The substitutions put United firmly in the ascendency but Omonia nearly had an equaliser through Bruno, who beat the offside trap but couldn't get the connection needed to lob De Gea.

With just over ten minutes to go, it looked like Cristiano Ronaldo would finally grab his 700th club goal when a cut-back from Diogo Dalot gifted him almost an open goal, but the veteran forward could only watch as his strike cannoned back off the post.

He may not have scored, but Ronaldo bagged an assist for a second goal from Rashford five minutes from time. It may have been a shot from the Portuguese, but it found its way to the substitute who tapped into an empty net.

With the celebrations still ongoing, Omonia pulled one back through Nikolas Panayiotou after some sloppy play out from the back from United, who only had themselves to blame for setting up a nervy finish.

Ronaldo and Rashford both fluffed counters which would have killed the game off, but United held on to secure all three points.

Man Utd player ratings vs Omonia (4-2-3-1)

Rashford inspired the comeback / -/GettyImages

GK: David de Gea - 5/10 - Wasn't particularly busy but perhaps could have done a little more to prevent the opener.RB: Diogo Dalot - 5/10 - Really poor in the first half but put in a decent shift after the break. Some nice attacking runs.CB: Victor Lindelof - 4/10 - Slow sideways passes and reluctant to take any risks. Played exactly like a player who knows he's tumbling down the pecking order.CB: Lisandro Martinez - 6/10 - Not really busy at the back and was more focused on trying to make something happen in attack. Some nice passing.LB: Tyrell Malacia - 3/10 - Did nothing going forwards and made a stunning error to gift Omonia the opening goal. Not helped by his entire team leaving him on his own but he should still have done so much better.DM: Casemiro - 4/10 - Not involved in much going forwards and was far too slow to get back when Omonia countered.DM: Christian Eriksen - 5/10 - Did very little in attack but gets a boost to his rating for being the only player putting in maximum effort to get back for the goal.RM: Antony - 6/10 - A number of dangerous moments. Asked Omonia plenty of questions but made a poor decision with his sloppy cut-back to Fernandes.AM: Bruno Fernandes - 5/10 - Pretty quiet in the first half but a sensational pass up to Rashford for the equaliser.LM: Jadon Sancho - 3/10 - Wasteful in the first half and was hooked at half-time, perhaps as a result of his lack of effort to get back after his poor pass in the build-up to the goal.ST: Cristiano Ronaldo - 6/10 - Actually looked quite dangerous in the early stages but was seen screaming expletives towards the heavens more often than not. An unselfish run for Rashford's equaliser, so fair play.SUB: Luke Shaw (46' for Malacia) - 6/10 - Just did his job, which was a welcome improvement from the first half.SUB: Marcus Rashford (46' for Sancho) - 8/10 - A goal and an assist within 15 minutes of coming on. Offered everything United had been lacking without him.SUB: Anthony Martial (61' for Fernandes) - 7/10 - Scored with his third touch and continued to look dangerous. A starting spot is in his near future.SUB: Fred (74' for Antony) - 6/10 - A quiet cameo.Manager: Erik ten Hag - 7/10 - Made gutsy decisions to hook Sancho and Fernandes but clearly got the rewards. A powerful message sent to his struggling starters.

View publisher imprint