Manchester United had not played a Champions League match in 1,003 days, and they scored three in the first half

The last time Manchester United played a Champions League match, Erik ten Hag was the manager and Bayern Munich were beating them 1-0 at Old Trafford to finish off their group. That was 12 December 2023. The gap between that night and Thursday’s game against Sabah is 1,003 days, which is not a number a three-time European champion is supposed to be able to quote.

They marked the return by winning 4-0, and the game was over by half-time.

Three before the break

Matheus Cunha got the first on 27 minutes, converting Patrick Dorgu’s cross from the left. Bruno Fernandes made it two on 42, after he and Youri Tielemans had spent most of the half passing through the space Sabah kept leaving between their lines. Benjamin Sesko got the third on the stroke of half-time.

Lisandro Martinez added the fourth on 68 minutes, finishing off a Joshua Zirkzee backheel. Zirkzee had come on four minutes earlier. By that stage the substitutions were about Sunday, not about the scoreline.

The underlying numbers were even more lopsided than the result. United had 21 shots and an expected-goals total of 3.67, so four was roughly what the chances deserved. Sabah had 11 shots for 0.92, and Joy-Lance Mickels missed the header that might have made the second half a contest.

Carrick was honest about what it was worth

Asked whether it had been the perfect night, Michael Carrick said: “I think so. It’s what we set out to achieve. I think it was a good performance, individually, collectively, pretty much all the way through the game, from start to finish.”

Then he said the other thing. “Results-wise, it hasn’t been the start we wanted. You know, we wanted to have more points in the league.”

That is the honest version. United have four points from their first three Premier League matches, a win, a draw and a defeat, and no amount of goals against Azerbaijani opposition changes that arithmetic. This was also their 300th match in European competition and their biggest win in an opening Champions League fixture since they beat Panathinaikos 5-0 at Old Trafford in September 2003, which tells you about the opposition rather than about United.

Sabah were never going to survive this

Sabah were founded on 8 September 2017. They played this match two days after their ninth birthday, in their first Champions League league-phase game, having got there by beating Hapoel Be’er Sheva 6-4 on aggregate in qualifying. Their reward for the best result in the club’s history was Old Trafford, and Barcelona and Arsenal later in the phase.

So a 4-0 proves very little. It is a clean sheet, minutes for legs that needed them, and three points that count exactly as much as any other three points in a 36-team league phase.

The real read arrives on Sunday, when Manchester City come to Old Trafford at 9pm IST. Carrick rotated on Thursday with that in mind, and the four points he was talking about are the reason.

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