Eight talking points from Nicosia

TONY TURNS IT AROUND

Martial’s cameo off the bench was the one bright spot in United’s derby defeat, with the Frenchman scoring twice on the other side of the city after a month-long injury lay-off. Tony is clearly eager to make up for lost time and he made it on to the scoresheet even more quickly this time, following his introduction for Fernandes. The ball was worked forward and Rashford flicked it on for Martial, who drove in from the left before finding the bottom corner with a swing of his right boot. Three goals in just 77 minutes of first-team football this season? C’est magnifique.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER SUBS?

The contributions of Rashford and Martial need no embellishment, especially after the former netted our third, but it would be remiss not to mention the other three replacements too. Shaw – allowed free reign as Omonia remained reluctant to commit men forward – almost laid one on a plate for Ronaldo, while Fred provided his usual tenacity in the middle of the park. Scott McTominay was also introduced in the closing stages and, while it was perhaps a little disappointing not to see at least one of Alejandro Garnacho, Facundo Pellistri or Zidane Iqbal introduced, the important thing was securing all three points, especially after our first-half scare and Panagiotou’s well-taken strike, which kept us on our toes right until the end.