Michael Carrick praised Kobbie Mainoos impressive performance and paid tribute to a stubborn Sabah side as Manchester United marked their return to the Champions League with a 4-0 win at Old Trafford on Thursday night. Matheus Cunha opened the scoring in the 27th minute, touching in Patrick Dorgus cross delicately at the back post, before Bruno Fernandes and Benjamin Sesko both struck in the closing stages of the first half to put the tie beyond the Azerbaijani side. Lisandro Martinez added a fourth in the second period after an impressive showing from substitute Joshua Zirkzee.Sabah, making their Champions League proper debut, caused United some discomfort in the early stages and Joy-Lance Mickels spurned a genuine opportunity to equalise after Cunhas opener, but the gulf in quality told emphatically as the evening wore on.Carrick was fair in his assessment when speaking post-match, acknowledging that the scoreline flattered Uniteds evening.Its nice to have a clean sheet! And obviously win the game, he said. There was a lot. I thought some of our attacking play was fantastic, some of the football we played was really good, dangerous on transition. Defended for the most part really well.I have to give them a lot of credit, really tough team to play against. They play little connections and make you really work to get the ball back. The result looks comfortable, it wasnt always like that. But I thought we just did a lot of good things tonight which gave us a good result.Carrick salutes MainooThe performance that drew most attention came from Kobbie Mainoo, who completed 81 passes across his 64 minutes on the pitch,the most by an Englishman in a Champions League match for United since Carrick himself made 89 against Olympiakos in February 2014. Hes a fantastic player, Kobbie, I think its pretty obvious to see, Carrick said. The way hes performing, playing that little bit deeper, really, and connecting the attacks, starting the attacks. Having a massive influence on our games. Hes a real joy to have he wants to learn, he wants to listen and he expresses himself on the pitch. Its great to see. Add us as a preferred source on Google If you enjoy reading this article, you can help support our independent football journalism by adding 101 Great Goals as a preferred source You Should Also Read Champions League round-up: Bayern Munich hit five past Bodo/Glimt as Como get big win Mitch Fretton 10th September, 2026 Manchester United 4-0 Sabah: Report, result and goals as Red Devils cruise to UCL win Mitch Fretton 10th September, 2026 WATCH: Manchester United take the lead in Champions League Mitch Fretton 10th September, 2026 LIVE Manchester United v Sabah: Commentary, updates, goals and stats Jon Fisher 10th September, 2026 Manchester United vs Sabah: Line-ups confirmed for Red Devils Champions League return Mitch Fretton 10th September, 2026 Seahawks dodge bullet with Darnold injury update Nicholas McGee 10th September, 2026
