Manchester United 4–0 Sabah: Champions League Return
Manchester United have waited 1,003 days for this. When the Champions League anthem finally rolled around Old Trafford again, Michael Carrick’s side made sure the night matched the sound. A 4-0 win over Sabah, business-like and occasionally brilliant, eased United back into Europe’s elite with minimal fuss and a welcome touch of swagger.
For 27 minutes, though, it was a contest. Sabah were organised, stubborn and just bold enough on the break to keep United honest. Then one loose pass in midfield opened the door and United barged straight through it.
Patrick Dorgu, deputising at left-back, burst down the flank and fizzed a low cross into the box. Matheus Cunha, alive to the angle and the pace of the ball, darted across his marker and steered it past Stas Pokatilov. One chance, one goal, and Old Trafford finally exhaled.
The pressure had been building. Once United were in front, it started to feel like a long night for the visitors.
Fernandes and Sesko turn control into a rout
With the tension gone, United’s football loosened. Bruno Fernandes, who had been knitting moves together from the right half-space, delivered the second blow three minutes before the break, sweeping home to double the lead and, effectively, the comfort.
Sabah’s resistance snapped. United sensed it.
Deep into first-half stoppage time, Benjamin Sesko provided the flourish the performance deserved. Making his first start since May 3 after a frustrating, extended lay-off, the 23-year-old timed his run perfectly onto Bryan Mbeumo’s pass, skipped around Pokatilov, kept his balance and rolled the ball into an empty net.
His leap in celebration, that familiar spring into the Manchester night, drew a roar that felt like more than a response to a third goal. It was a welcome-back. A confirmation that the forward who finished last season in such promising form has not lost his edge.
Sesko’s numbers underline that sharpness. Two goals in 117 minutes this season — one every 58.5 minutes — on top of seven in 595 minutes under Carrick last term, when he averaged a strike every 85 minutes. The sample size is small, but the trend is clear: when he plays, he threatens.
This, remember, is a player United have had to manage carefully. He has not started a game since he was withdrawn at half-time against Liverpool four months ago, after being shoved into the advertising boards by Ibrahima Konate and aggravating a shin injury he had been nursing. United chose caution, keeping him out of all six pre-season friendlies and working him back at Carrington.
He reappeared as a late substitute at Hull on the opening weekend, then delivered an 88th-minute winner at Everton with a towering header. Here, his one-on-one composure showed another side to his armoury. Carrick will know he has a centre-forward capable of finishing in different ways — and in different types of games.
Sesko was withdrawn on 64 minutes, job done, ovation earned.
Dorgu’s audition at left-back
If Sesko’s night was about confirmation, Dorgu’s was about discovery.
The 21-year-old Dane had not played a single minute at left-back under Carrick before this, used instead higher up the wing where his attacking instincts can run free. Against Sabah, circumstances forced a change. Luke Shaw was absent — almost certainly with Sunday’s Manchester derby in mind — and Dorgu was dropped into the back four.
On this evidence, he offers plenty when United expect to dominate the ball.
His assist for Cunha’s opener showcased his timing and delivery from deep. Later in the half, he drifted into a more advanced position on the left, with Cunha tucking inside, and again found space to hurt Sabah. One cross picked out Sesko, who improvised with a back-heel flick that flew just wide.
Going forward, Dorgu looked natural, confident and dangerous. Defensively, the picture was less clear.
Carrick has been wary of his defensive discipline, and a couple of moments here explained why. On one occasion, he allowed Akim Zedadka to glide past him too easily, forcing Lisandro Martinez to scramble across and snuff out the danger. On another, he failed to prevent a cross from Kaheem Parris, which Joy-Lance Mickels headed into the side netting.
This felt like a glimpse of what Dorgu can be for United: a left-back for nights when they are on the front foot, when the risk of exposing space behind him is outweighed by the damage he can cause going the other way. With Shaw unlikely to be flogged three times a week now the Champions League and domestic cups are in full swing, those nights could come often.
Old Trafford and Europe, reunited
The last time Old Trafford staged a Champions League game, in December 2023, Bayern Munich walked away with a 1-0 win and United tumbled out of Europe altogether before Christmas. That campaign, under Erik ten Hag, ended with United bottom of a group containing Bayern, Copenhagen and Galatasaray. One win, one draw, four defeats. A mess.
This felt very different. Not transformative, not definitive — Sabah, from Azerbaijan, are not expected to trouble this competition — but reassuring.
United’s second and third goals came from moves that looked like training-ground patterns brought to life: quick combinations, five or more players involved, runners from deep, a clear idea of where the space would be. It was slick, fluid football, the kind Carrick has been trying to embed since taking over.
The fourth came from chaos rather than choreography. Midway through the second half, a calamitous defensive mix-up in the Sabah box left the ball loose a yard from goal. Martinez reacted quickest, stabbing it in from point-blank range to cap the scoreline and his own assertive display at the back.
By then, the game was long gone. Carrick used the final stages to rotate and reward. Teenage academy products Shea Lacey and Harry Amass were both handed Champions League minutes, a reminder that nights like this are also about building for tomorrow.
United even managed something they had not produced all season: a clean sheet. There was one late scare, when Orphe Mbina sent a header just over the bar in added time, but the shutout stayed intact.
Carrick did not hide his satisfaction afterwards. Asked if this was the perfect start, he replied: “I think so. Kind of what we set out to achieve really, I think (it was) a good performance individually, collectively, pretty much all the way through the game. From start to finish, boys that started, boys that came on the pitch, clean sheet, and some goals and some good exciting football. It was a good night all round.”
On the clean sheet, he was just as clear: “I think a clean sheet tonight was important for us. We’ve conceded goals in different ways, and one goes in the top corner, and sometimes you can do things about it, sometimes you can’t, to a point. I think collectively as a team we’ve done a lot of good things, and that’s why we’re kind of excited about what the season brings and not game-to-game, so much of getting too carried away.”
The crowd of 73,685 shared that sense of quiet optimism. This was not a statement win, but it was a competent, controlled one — the kind United have too often failed to deliver in Europe in recent years.
The real examination lies ahead
The numbers matter in this new Champions League format. Ten points from 24 available made qualification a formality last season; nine and a strong goal difference were enough for some. United already have three on the board and a +4 cushion after one game. They are close to matching last season’s entire haul.
But the real questions will be asked away to Atletico Madrid and at home to Como, who thrashed RB Leipzig 4-1 earlier in the night. Those back-to-back midweek fixtures, on the other side of the September/October international break, will show where Carrick’s team truly sit in this reshaped European landscape.
For now, United have what they wanted: a smooth re-entry, goals shared around, a centre-forward back in rhythm, a potential new option at left-back and, at long last, a clean sheet.
The Manchester derby looms. The Champions League road stretches out. After a night like this, how bold will United dare to be?
