Man United make light work of minnows Sabah as Youri Tielemans excels in 4-0 win on Champions League return - but tougher tests await for Michael Carrick's men

Until the Champions League anthem echoed around Old Trafford for the first time in nearly three years shortly before kick-off here last night, it was easy to forget that playing Sabah on a Thursday night marked Manchester United's return to Europe's top table.

With respect to the visitors from Azerbaijan, it was a fixture and a night of the week more in keeping with the UEFA Conference League.

United duly made light work of the minnows from Masazir – population 19,000 – to get their campaign off to the winning start that everyone expected and maintain a 100 per cent record among Premier League clubs in this week's first round.

The timing of the game, three days before the Old Trafford derby, was not ideal for Michael Carrick given that Manchester City had played on Tuesday.

However, a routine win and the opportunity to make changes both before and during this game with Sunday in mind was just what Carrick needed.

Safe to say, a decidedly tougher test awaits United away to Atletico Madrid in the Metropolitano next month.

It's difficult to judge their performance against opposition of this quality, but Youri Tielemans – whose £35million transfer fee from Aston Villa this summer could have paid for the Sabah squad twice over – excelled in midfield to help put the result beyond doubt before half-time, and Kobbie Mainoo shone alongside him.

Luke Shaw, on whom so much hinges at left-back, was rested after suffering cramp in last Sunday's draw at Everton, and his replacement Patrick Dorgu posed a persistent threat going forward, even though his defensive capabilities were rarely tested.

Marcus Rashford was also left on the bench after overstretching a hamstring at the weekend, which meant that Matheus Cunha reverted to the left flank after struggling as a false nine in the opening three games, and Benjamin Sesko made his first start of the season.

Both players scored here with Sesko's second goal in four days strengthening his case to be in the line-up against City.

'Of course, I'm happy with my goal,' said the Slovenian. 'I think the confidence boost is definitely big. Now it's important to recover well and focus on the derby.'

United could hardly have chosen a more peculiar occasion for their 300th appearance in this competition. They were 1/10 on with the bookies to beat a club that didn't even exist a decade ago and had already fought through four qualifying rounds as underdogs to reach the league phase.

The story of their manager Valdas Dambrauskas, retold many times before he arrived back in Manchester, rather summed up the remarkable nature of this tie. The man who won £2,500 on Lithuania's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and used it to fund a coaching education which included a spell with United's Soccer Schools.

It's fair to say that education continued on a night when Sabah gave a good account of themselves but always looked second best.

'I think we learned a lot,' admitted Dambrauskas. 'We will all go home thinking we could have done a little bit better, especially with the result.

'This is massive experience for us; 16 players went on the pitch and only one of them played at this level before.'

The Sabah players were out on the grass more than an hour before the start, their excitement clear for all to see as they filmed themselves and took pictures.

Once the action started, they seemed undaunted by the occasion and the pace of Kaheem Parris and dangerman Joy Lance Mickels kept United's defence on its toes.

Not surprisingly, though, it was Carrick's side who made the better chances including two early opportunities on the right side of the box for Cunha and Noussair Mazraoui.

Two Tielemans passes led to Bruno Fernandes narrowly failing to find Sesko in front of goal as Rahman Dashdamirov intercepted, and Bryan Mbeumo cutting in from the right to fire straight at goalkeeper Stas Pokatilov before United made the breakthrough in the 27th minute.

Sabah were over-committed when an attack broke down close to half-way and they were punished. Mbeumo seized on the loose ball and it went through Sesko and Fernandes before Dorgu's first-time cross picked out Cunha whose close-range finish found its way past Pokatilov.

The man who couldn't score through the middle hadn't taken long to profit in his preferred position on the left side of United's attack.

While the lead was only one, Sabah were always in with a chance. They got closer to Senne Lammens' goal on occasions than Carrick would have liked, not least when Mickels headed into the side-netting from Parris' cross to the far post.

But United effectively killed the game off with two goals in the space of three minutes before half-time.

The first of them was created by Tielemans who started the move and then continued his run into the box to receive Cunha's pass, spinning cleverly to set up Fernandes for a clinical first-time finish.

Then the United captain broke from halfway and fed Mbeumo who slid a pass into the path of Sesko who rounded Pokatilov to score.

With the game all but won, you couldn't blame Carrick for taking off Tielemans at half-time to protect the Belgian ahead of the City game on Sunday. Mainoo and Sesko soon followed, and the changes continued after United made it 4-0 in the 68th minute.

Pokatilov fumbled a close-range effort from substitute Joshua Zirkzee, and Lisandro Martinez pounced to score from close range.

Credit to Sabah, they kept going and Mickels flashed a shot wide before Orphe Mbina headed against the bar in added time.

But having embarrassingly gone out at the group stage in 2023, United's first venture into the new league phase has gone smoothly.

Now it's onto the Metropolitano, which will host the Champions League final in June. It's far too early to say if United have even the slightest chance of being there, and games like this won't give us a clue either way.