SCOTT McTOMINAY saved the day but he couldn’t save the blushes as United needed a last-gasp hero to see off the Nicosian no-hopers.
McTominay was the last of the subs to step from the bench as Erik ten Hag desperately tried to find a way past a side everyone had written off as cannon fodder.
What a good choice it was, as he danced and stepped his way into space to drill a stoppage time strike under Hector Yuste for a winning goal the fans had long given up on.
It should have been a walkover, against a bunch of 40-1 outsiders whose first-choice keeper was crocked.
It should have been the closest thing to a tap-in you will ever see, against a genuine footballing giant.
But United fans have stopped counting chickens long since. Way before last week’s red-faced moment when the Cypriots had humbled them by taking the lead.
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So maybe no-one should have been surprised to see Ten Hag’s men make such heavy weather of it again.
Although even by their one step forward, two steps back standards, this hit new depths. Talk about undoing any good work from Sunday’s come from behind win at Everton.
Yes, they can point to dominating possession, dominating chances and dominating the match. But the bottom line is they needed a 95th minute winner against a team they should have caned, simple as that.
And all that against a stand-in keeper between the sticks who has played more for his country than club over the past two years.
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A week ago first choice Fabiano Freitas had won plenty of admirers for his performance as United peppered in shots.
So when a shoulder injury ruled him out, even most of the incredible 4,000 or so away fans who at least gave Old Trafford some atmosphere wouldn’t have held out much hope.
Clearly no-one told Nigerian stand-in Francis Uzoho, who took barely a minute to show he intended to make the most of his big moment with a flying save from Marcus Rashford.
There was no hint then, but it was an ominous sign of what lay ahead for United…and a night the 23-year-old keeper will never forget.
Time and again United rained shots on his goal. Time and again he came up trumps to keep it intact.
No-one was more frustrated than Rashford, the two goal off-the-bench hero of last week’s win and intent on adding at least as many again.
If he’d kept a cooler head at times he probably would have done, as well. And when he did, the United striker found a man in inspired form.
Another whipped-in strike was touched wide and Rashford was punching the air in frustration.
As he was when Uzoho spread himself to block another strike, although a dinked effort would surely have brought better reward.
A tight angled shot from Cristiano Ronaldo was pushed behind, another found the side netting, and a curler from Bruno Fernandes just didn’t come back quickly enough.
But the best stop of the lot – one which needed TV replays to prove he even touched – cae when the tips of his fingertips pushed Casemiro’s rocket onto the woodwork.
It was struck so fiercely that the crossbar has probably only just stopped shuddering. Rather like United’s fans, in embarrassment at what meal their side made of it.
Wave upon wave, cross upon cross, shot upon shot…and all of them met with groans not glee.
Rashford blew another when he was clean through and although this time Uzoho didn’t seem to get anywhere near it, referee Jerome Brisard gave a corner.
The French official was so used to seeing Nicosia’s keeper save the day he probably assumed he had got a hand to it.
Or maybe it was simply a shocking call – like the one which saw Moreto Cassama escape with a yellow when he launched himself into a shocking challenge on Casemiro.
And on the subject of shocking, that was the only description for Bruno’s choice to shoot when the Cypriots could – make that should – have caught United on the hop.
Just as they had in the first game, Nicosia had them flat-footed when Bruno left Victor Lindelof for dead.
Yet with Andronikos Kakoulli screaming for a pass, unmarked and in the middle, his pal chose to shoot and the opening went.
On the touchline one-time Celtic chief Neil Lennon, now Nicosia gaffer, needed BT Sport’s bleep machine such was his fury at the blown chance.
Not half as much as he did when McTominay came up with that most dramatic of finales. United may have breathed a sigh of relief, but you had to say Lennon and his team didn’t deserve to go down like that…
