After an impressive start to the Premier League season with 10 points from a possible 12, Manchester United started their Champions League campaign with a win over Swiss champions FC Basel.
Although it came with a blow as Paul Pogba was substituted before the 20-minute mark with an injury. The driving force in United’s midfield was replaced by Marouane Fellaini, who made an impact before the interval by scoring his first ever Champions League goal.
In the second half, another two United players scored their first Champions League goal, albeit in their first ever appearance in Europe’s most prestigious competition. Romelu Lukaku made it 10 goals in 8 games for club and country this season — this time heading home a Daley Blind cross — and Marcus Rashford made a goal scoring impact from the bench.
It was a convincing display from Mourinho’s men but they still seemed to be in second or third gear, so we can expect to see more from this bunch of players as the season goes on.
Elsewhere in Group A, CSKA Moscow came from behind to beat Portuguese champions Benfica 2-1 at the Estadio da Luz, meaning United sit on top both domestically and in Europe.
Paul Pogba injury
Pogba is now certain to miss to miss United’s Super Sunday clash against Everton after pulling up with a hamstring strain just 18 minutes into the game. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious but the player was adamant once he felt a strain that it was time to come off.
United have a lot of fixtures coming up and they will need all of their key players available. For instance, they travel to Anfield in just over a month so Mourinho will be hoping to keep his injury list at a minimum.
After all, the Frenchman is the driving force behind this team.
Ashley Young, a natural crosser
It has been pretty evident watching United this season that there’s going to be lots of crossing into the box, hence why Mourinho targeted Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic throughout the summer.
However, United were unsuccessful in their bid to sign Perisic and Mourinho called upon Young, who hasn’t played since May, to start at right back against Basel. The England international tends to get a hard time from United’s online support but nobody can question Young’s commitment to the cause when given game time. And unlike most of United’s wide players, he can cross the ball.
Young assisted Fellaini for the opener with a superb cross in the first half, which will give Mourinho more thought when United are chasing games. Especially given how this United side has height in abundance.
That said, United’s second came from another cross. This time the technically brilliant Daley Blind was to thank for assisting Romelu Lukaku with his first Champions League goal.
Nightmare in front of goal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan
How frustrating is Mkhitaryan in front of goal? This is something Mourinho has picked up on by publicly suggesting that the Armenian needs to add goals to his game.
Meanwhile, his movement off the ball and ability to create goals is second the none but, in order to become a world class player, Mkhitaryan most learn how to stick the ball in the net. He had two clear-cut opportunities in the first half, although was unable to take advantage in either of those situations.
