Omonia Nicosia goalkeeper Francis Uzoho asked Erik ten Hag for a photo following his heroic performance in the Cypriot's narrow 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
Starting in goal in place of the injured Fabiano, who started last week's meeting between the two clubs in Cyprus, Uzoho produced an outstanding performance between the sticks, pulling off a string of fine saves. He looked like being the difference between United getting one point and all three, only for Scott McTominay to net a stoppage time winner.
The Nigerian international, who represented his county at the 2018 World Cup, pulled off a plethora of outstanding stops, denying the likes of Marcus Rashford and Casemiro in the first half, before producing an excellent double save right at the start of the second 45, keeping out efforts from Antony and Rashford. It was a truly stunning performance.
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Although, in the end, his side had nothing to show for his efforts, except immense pride for restricting United for so long, Uzoho could barely wipe the smile from his face at the full-time whistle, such was the quality of his performance. The 23-year-old is a United fan and had clearly made it his mission to impress the Old Trafford crowd.
Following the match, Omonia boss Neil Lennon brought Uzoho along with him to his post-match press conference and waxed lyrical about his performance. As they were leaving the press conference room, Ten Hag was waiting outside, readying himself to face the assembled media.
Uzoho plucked up the courage to ask Ten Hag for a quick picture and the Dutchman obliged. They also shook hands.
Revealing what he said to him in their brief conversation, Ten Hag said: "I said 'well done'. He had many, many saves, so many clear goals were not in, so we kept them in the game.
"So the performance until the box was good and the finishing was not that good tonight. Let's hope we save the goals for the coming week."
Summing up an unforgettable evening, Uzoho, speaking in a post-match TV interview, said: "I am not disappointed, because we had a good game, but we would have preferred to have got at least a point. It is a dream come true to play here. I have dreamt about it for a long, long time."
When Uzoho revealed he and his father are United fans, Omonia manager Neil Lennon quipped: "He's not shut up about it the last few weeks!"
Lennon added: "I'm very proud of the team obviously, very proud of this man sitting to my left He was outstanding. He was inspired and when you play a team with his calibre with a team of our calibre you need your goalkeeper to play well and he was just world-class tonight. I'm so happy for him."
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