{"id":766906,"date":"2026-09-11T04:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T04:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766906\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T04:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T04:56:14","slug":"sesko-soars-as-manchester-united-surge-past-sabah-on-champions-league-return-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766906\/","title":{"rendered":"Sesko soars as Manchester United surge past Sabah on Champions League return | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a night for romance given the astonishing story that Sabah brought with them to Old Trafford for their Champions League debut. This is a club that did not even exist a decade ago and nobody saw their bolt to the title in Azerbaijan coming last season; in 2024-25, they had finished 41 points off the top. The job that their manager, Valdas Dambrauskas, has done since taking over<\/a> in the summer of last year is extraordinary.<\/p>\n

It was also a night for cold, hard reality. Manchester United<\/a> were back in Europe\u2019s elite competition after a two-year hiatus and in need of something to soothe them after the trauma of their last-gasp coughing up of two points in last Sunday\u2019s Premier League draw at Everton. And before the extremely serious business of the derby here against Manchester City on Sunday. They got it on the back of a first-half performance that burned slowly before catching fire.<\/p>\n

Sabah were game. United were clinical. It was Matheus Cunha who broke the deadlock midway through the first half and the defining moments came at the end of the\u00a0period when Bruno Fernandes and Benjamin Sesko sent United into half-time with a three-goal cushion. Lisandro Mart\u00ednez added the fourth late on. It was a case of job done for Michael Carrick, no wobbles. Now for City.<\/p>\n

United had wanted to put their best foot forward when they heard the Champions League<\/a> aria after the chaos and embarrassment of their previous involvement in the competition. Erik ten Hag was the manager in 2023-24 and his team finished bottom of their group with four points, starting and ending with losses to Bayern Munich. It was what happened in between times against Galatasaray and Copenhagen that still causes a few shudders. It was a period when United panicked uncontrollably when they had a lead. When the defensive gifts from them came in crazy clusters.<\/p>\n

Carrick took no chances with his starting XI. There was minimal rotation in the midfield and front line, save for a first start of the season for Sesko in the No 9 position. It was easy to think that the manager wanted to groove Youri Tielemans and Kobbie Mainoo in central midfield before the City game.<\/p>\n

United looked to Fernandes to get them going. As always. There were intelligent runs from him; incision about his passes, that wonderful disguise on some of them. The breakthrough goal stemmed from him chasing a high ball over the top that looked like a lost cause only for him to keep it in play. It was what happened next that quickened United pulses. When Sabah gave the ball away cheaply to Bryan Mbeumo, United moved quickly over to the left. Patrick Dorgu crossed and Cunha\u2019s finish was clean.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideGabriel, 15, stars with hat-trick for United in Youth League debut Show\"\"<\/p>\n

Manchester United’s JJ Gabriel (pictured) marked his Uefa Youth League debut with a hat-trick against Sabah aged just 15. The attacker is tipped as a future star and made his first appearance for the first team off the bench in last month\u2019s friendly against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid.<\/p>\n

Gabriel has yet to make Michael Carrick\u2019s squad for a competitive match but the teenager, who turns 16 next month, continues to knock on the door. He sparkled for the Under-19s in Thursday\u2019s 5-0 win against Sabah in the Youth League in front of director of football Jason Wilcox, director of recruitment Christopher Vivell and first-team coach Travis Binnion.<\/p>\n

Amir Ibragimov and Jacob Watson scored early goals in Leigh, where Gabriel added another in a dominant first half.<\/p>\n

Gabriel scored two more late in the second half to claim the match ball against the Azerbaijani visitors, who did not manage a shot on a day that United mustered 44 attempts. PA<\/p>\n

Photograph: Zohaib Alam\/Manchester United<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Sabah lined up in a 4-3-3 formation; no bus parking. They wanted to ask questions of a United defence that had a makeshift feel about it. There was assurance on the ball from them, the desire to carry it forward. And a huge chance in the 35th minute when Kaheem Parris crossed to the back post. Joy-Lance Mickels was clear of Noussair Mazraoui only to put the header wide. The angle was not favourable. It did not entirely excuse him.<\/p>\n

Matheus Cunha opens the scoring with a smart finish in the first half. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sabah were harshly treated by the half-time scoreline, even though United played on the front foot and created openings. It was the one-two punch in the closing stages of the first period that changed everything. Fernandes \u2013 who else? \u2013 made a sidefoot finish look easy after Tielemans had burst on a Cunha pass inside, spun and teed him up. The third followed a first time pass by Fernandes into Mbeumo, who got Sesko clean though. The Sabah backline was high. Sesko went around the goalkeeper to score. He never looked like missing.<\/p>\n

There was a lovely scene 90 \u00adminutes before kick-off when some of the Sabah players wandered around the pitch, the stadium virtually empty, phones out to capture the quiet before the storm, the sheer scale of Old Trafford. They wore wide smiles. They were determined not to be overawed when it got started. The performance of the strolling central midfielder, Ivan Lepinjica, was certainly impressive. They were just too loose at the back.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

United played some slick stuff at times, Mainoo and \u00adFernandes ever involved. When Carrick\u2019s \u00adpass-and-move game clicks, it is easy\u00a0to feel the \u00adpossibility. \u00adImposing it against the higher-\u00adprofile teams\u00a0is\u00a0the name of the game. \u00adStarting against City.<\/p>\n

Mason Mount was introduced at half-time for his first football of the season \u2013 \u201cIt was great to get Mason back on the pitch,\u201d Carrick later said \u2013 with Tielemans coming off, his work done. The Belgian could be pleased with his impact. Carrick was always going to withdraw other likely starters against City, such as Mainoo. Sesko came off with him on 64 minutes and was warmly applauded. After his goal at Everton on Sunday, has he done enough to make the XI for the derby?<\/p>\n

Carrick added: \u201cWe always push for more. Results-wise it hasn\u2019t been the start we wanted, but performance-wise there are a lot of things we were looking for. The clean sheet was important tonight. Collectively as a team we have done a lot of good things and that is why we are excited what this season can bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

His side controlled the second half. The jeopardy was long gone. The fourth goal summed up Sabah\u2019s travails in their defensive third. It was a scooped free-kick by Fernandes for Joshua Zirkzee, on as a substitute, and when his backheel hit Aden \u00adMcCarthy, the Sabah goalkeeper, Stas Pokatilov, lost his bearings, the ball caught under his feet. It was a tap-in for Mart\u00ednez. The substitute, Orph\u00e9 Mbina, headed high for Sabah at the very end. There was to be no fairytale goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a night for romance given the astonishing story that Sabah brought with them to Old Trafford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-766906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}