Manchester United cruised to a 4-0 win on their return to the Champions League for the first time in three seasons as Azerbaijani champions Sabah were taught a lesson on their debut among Europe’s elite on Thursday.
Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes, Benjamin Sesko and Lisandro Martinez were on target at Old Trafford as the Red Devils took advantage of a kind draw to get their Champions League campaign up and running.
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United have made an uninspiring start to the Premier League, picking up just four points from their opening three games against newly-promoted Hull and Ipswich and a trip to Everton.
Yet the difference in class between the three-time European champions and a club only formed nine years ago told once Cunha opened the floodgates on 27 minutes.
Sabah navigated four rounds of qualifying to earn their night at the Theatre of Dreams.
For coach Valdas Dambrauskas it was a return to Old Trafford after his fairytale rise to the Champions League began with a role at Manchester United Soccer Schools, while working several part-time jobs just to make ends meet.
Dambrauskas conceded even before the match that Sabah had leapfrogged a few stages in their development by reaching the Champions League proper before they had even experienced the Europa or Conference League.
United boss Michael Carrick could barely have asked for a more forgiving fixture with the Manchester derby against City to come on Sunday.
Carrick could afford to leave out Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford, while Youri Tielemans, Kobbie Mainoo, Bryan Mbeumo and Sesko were handed a rest in the second half.
Undaunted by the 74,000 crowd in United’s first Champions League outing for nearly three years, Sabah started confidently.
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However, they could not live with the Premier League giants once the Red Devils clicked up through the gears.
Patrick Dorgu impressed in Shaw’s absence and whipped in the cross from which Cunha steered home the opening goal at the near post.
Two goals in three minutes just before the break killed off the contest. A neat interchange between Tielemans and Fernandes teed up the United captain to slot in his fourth goal in two home appearances this season.
Mbeumo then freed Sesko to round Stas Pokatilov and roll into an empty net to mark his first start of the season with a goal.
United could afford to coast through the second period but added to their lead thanks to a calamitous moment for Pokatilov.
The danger for Sabah looked to have been averted when Joshua Zirkzee’s backheel from Fernandes’s scooped free-kick was blocked.
But the ball bobbled around the Kazakh goalkeeper’s feet and he presented Martinez the chance to slam into an empty net.
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Much tougher tests of what United are capable of back at Europe’s top table await, starting with their next Champions League outing at Atletico Madrid in five weeks’ time.
But victory capped a fine week for English clubs with Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City also off to winning starts.
“Nice to have a clean sheet and obviously win the game. Some of our attacking play was fantastic. We were dangerous in transition, defended well in the most part,” Carrick told TNT Sports.
“The result looks comfortable but it was not as easy as that. Kobbie [Mainoo] is a fantastic player, it is pretty obvious to see. He has a massive influence on our game and a real joy to have. Through the middle of the pitch, we have played some good football at times and we can get better.
“There are some good signs which we have shown tonight. The confidence is there, like at Everton on Sunday for large spells, just took a hit there at the end with the result. It is always nice to win. Another big one on Sunday.”
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Meanwhile, Jamal Musiala scored the opener and Michael Olise grabbed two goals as Bayern Munich cruised to a comfortable 5-0 home win over Bodo-Glimt in the Champions League on Thursday.
Harry Kane and Alphonso Davies also got on the scoresheet for the six-time European champions but the evening belonged to Musiala, who was embraced by his teammates after scoring on his return to the starting XI.
The Germany international missed two matches after revealing he was suffering from a neurological condition which caused him to collapse on the pitch in two of Bayern’s pre-season friendlies.
The win continued Bayern’s remarkable run of 24 straight victories in Champions League opening games dating back to 2002.
Last season’s Champions League surprise packages Bodo, who made it to the last 16, held out bravely but struggled in the second half and eventually lost Odin Bjortuft to a straight red card for a last-man foul with three minutes left.
Musiala was among three changes Bayern coach Vincent Kompany made to his starting XI from Saturday’s scoreless draw at Schalke, alongside the returning Kane and Olise.
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The German champions were frustrated by Bodo’s deep block in the opening half, struggling to carve out a clear-cut chance.
Bodo’s resistance was broken early in the second when Musiala latched onto a blocked Kane effort and fired a shot into the far corner.
Kane added another just after the hour mark, heading in an Olise free-kick to extend his Champions League scoring run to eight matches in a row.
Bayern ran rampant in the dying stages, scoring three goals in the last 15 minutes.
Davies blasted in an excellent long-range effort with 13 minutes left and Olise soon followed suit six minutes later, guiding a sensational shot into the top left corner from 25 yards out.
The France winger added another brilliant finish in stoppage time to add gloss to a dominant second-half performance for the Bavarian giants.