Manchester United began their Champions League campaign with a routine 4-0 victory over first-time participants Sabah at Old Trafford, as goals from Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes, Benjamin Sesko and Lisandro Martínez proved too much for the Azerbaijani champions.
Michael Carrick fielded a strong lineup featuring Youri Tielemans, Kobbie Mainoo, Cunha, Fernandes and Bryan Mbeumo, with Sesko handed a first start of the season ahead of Marcus Rashford. Sabah, managed by Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas, matched their illustrious hosts for large stretches of the opening half, deploying an aggressive press that kept United at bay for the first 27 minutes.
The visitors, roughly 500 of whose supporters made the trip to Manchester, had reason for early optimism. Centre-forward Joy-Lance Mickels, Ivan Lepinjica in midfield and wide forward Kaheem Parris all showed glimpses of a threat that briefly troubled United's defense. But the breakthrough came when Patrick Dorgu whipped in a cross from the left that Cunha dispatched clinically to put the hosts ahead.
Sabah's best chance to level arrived on 39 minutes when Parris curled a delivery to the far post, finding Mickels unmarked in a promising position. The 32-year-old, however, mistimed his header and the ball drifted wide — a missed opportunity that would prove pivotal as United subsequently pulled clear.
Just before the break, United doubled their advantage through a slick move involving Tielemans and Fernandes, with the Portuguese midfielder beating Sabah goalkeeper and captain Stas Pokatilov. Sesko then added a third moments later, ghosting past Pokatilov to make it 3-0 at halftime. It was a second successive goal for the Slovenian striker following his effort off the bench in United's 2-2 draw at Everton, strengthening his case to start against Manchester City in this weekend's Manchester derby.
Martínez completed the scoring in the second half after a defensive mix-up left Pokatilov unsure of the ball's position on his own goal line, sealing a comfortable night for the hosts.
Despite the scoreline, reaching the Champions League group stage represents a landmark achievement for Sabah, a club founded in 2017 in the town of Masazir near Baku by real estate developer Yagub Huseynov. The Azerbaijani side's run to Old Trafford began back in July, when they navigated four rounds of qualifying, defeating The New Saints, Kuopio, Aarhus and Hapoel Be'er Sheva along the way. Dambrauskas led Sabah to a league and cup double in his first season in charge, becoming Azerbaijan's newly crowned champions.
Reflecting on the defeat, Dambrauskas acknowledged his side's inexperience at this level. "We all will all go home thinking that we could've done a little bit better – especially the result. We didn't have enough courage maybe, especially from the backline to play out. We were not afraid but maybe were over-evaluated the opponent. Sixteen players went on the pitch and only one of them played at that level before," he said, referring to midfielder Veljko Simić as the sole player with prior Champions League experience.
Separately, United's Under-19s thrashed Sabah's youth side 5-0 in a UEFA Youth League fixture, with 15-year-old academy prospect JJ Gabriel scoring a hat-trick in front of club officials including director of football Jason Wilcox.
Sabah's Champions League journey continues with fixtures against Slavia Prague, Borussia Dortmund, Viking, Barcelona, Villarreal, Napoli and Arsenal, offering the newcomers further chances to test themselves against Europe's elite.
Based on reporting from The Guardian.