Manchester United finally got their UEFA Europa League group campaign up and running after defeating Sheriff Tiraspol 2-0 on Thursday evening.
Man United made five changes to the side that narrowly lost to Real Sociedad, as Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Scott McTominay, Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes were all recalled.
The Red Devils did not take time to settle as Sancho opened the scoring on 17 minutes with a low drive from the edge of the box after he was picked out in space by Christian Eriksen.
Sheriff had to come out after that and Cristiano Ronaldo had a big chance for the visitors with 33 minutes on the clock after latching onto a chip over the defence by Antony but he fired his strike over the crossbar.
United's pressure eventually paid off towards the end of the first stanza, as Ronaldo doubled their lead with a clinical penalty down the middle after Patrick Kpozo tripped Diogo Dalot in the box.
Erik ten Hag made a change at halftime as Casemiro replaced McTominay for fresh legs in midfield, before Fernandes had a good opportunity to bury the game three minutes later after a low cross by Dalot in the box but his shot was smothered by goalkeeper Maksym Koval.
United continued to fashion chances and had an opening just before the hour-mark after a cross by Eriksen but defender Stjepan Radeljic made an out-stretched clearance to deny Ronaldo a tap-in.
The Moldovan outfit struggled to put passage of passes together and have a real go at goal, with the Red Devils goalkeeper David de Gea hardly tested.
Ten Hag reshuffled his defence in the last 20 minutes as Luke Shaw replaced Dalot and ten minutes later Ronaldo made way for Anthony Elanga.
United looked more threatening in the dying minutes but Pernambuco almost pulled a goal back for Sheriff two minutes before time with a free-kick from the edge of the box that was smothered by De Gea. In the end, the Devils held on to a comfortable win in the end as they secured their first points in Group E.
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