Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes gave one of the PAOK players a moment to remember after the Europa League tie at Old Trafford.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side ran out 2-0 winners thanks to a second-half brace from Amad Diallo, but that didn’t dampen the mood of their Greek opponents. In fact, after the final whistle, PAOK midfielder Magomed Ozdoyev, who started and played the full game, went over to Scholes to ask him to sign his shirt for his father.

It was a request that Scholes didn’t deny, with the 49-year-old showing a touch of class to accept the offer and writing a short message. When asked if one of the PAOK players went over for his autograph, Scholes replied while working for TNT Sports: “He did, yeah. I wasn’t sure if he would have remembered me; it was such a long time ago. Yeah, but we wanted an autograph for his dad, so I obliged. There is he is yeah, number 27.”

As for the game itself, United produced a professional performance to get the job done and record their first Europa League win of the season at the fourth attempt. It’s a victory that moves them up to 12th in the new format and on to six points from their opening four matches in Europe’s second-tier competition.

Speaking after the game, United interim head coach Van Nistelrooy said: “First half wasn’t good, that’s clear, a very good point. I think we created hardly anything and PAOK neither, they didn’t create a lot, so in that sense, we were okay. But we didn’t get going.

“I think our possession wasn’t good enough, we made many tactical mistakes, our shape wasn’t good, it was, at times, not low enough and, every time, in that shape that we wanted to play.

“Second half, we were a lot better, we persisted in finding Casemiro and [Manuel] Ugarte in front of the defence, or Amad and Bruno [Fernandes] in the no.10 positions and that’s why we started playing better and creating more chances and getting the better of the game, playing in their half more. And as you said, Amad made the difference there with two good goals.”