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Manchester United Crush Sabah 4-0 in Champions League Debut

By Drooid · Sep 11, 2026, 10:52 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Manchester United Crush

Manchester United defeated Sabah FC 4-0 at Old Trafford in their Champions League debut.
Matheus Cunha opened scoring in the 27th minute after Patrick Dorgu’s cross.
Bruno Fernandes added a second goal from Youri Tielemans’ assist in the 42nd minute.
Manager Michael Carrick praised the clean-sheet performance and said the team executed the game plan.
Sabah coach Valdas Dambrauskas said his side lacked defensive courage and could have done better.

Summary

Sabah Qualifies

Sabah qualified for the Champions League proper after nine years, beating The New Saints, KuPS, AGF Aarhus and Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
United rested left-back Luke Shaw, giving him extra recovery before the Manchester derby.
Injuries kept Amad Diallo, Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Ugarte out of United’s squad.
Fifteen-year-old JJ Gabriel scored a hat-trick for United’s U19s against Sabah in the Youth League.

History

Historical Context

Manchester United’s latest European win echoes the club’s historic dominance, highlighted by the dramatic 1999 UEFA Champions League final where United overturned Bayern Munich’s lead in injury time to claim their second European Cup. That triumph marked the first English treble and added to United’s three continental titles (1968, 1999, 2008), underscoring a long-standing pattern of late-stage comebacks.

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Manchester United Crush

Manchester United defeated Sabah FC 4-0 at Old Trafford in their Champions League debut.
Matheus Cunha opened scoring in the 27th minute after Patrick Dorgu’s cross.
Bruno Fernandes added a second goal from Youri Tielemans’ assist in the 42nd minute.
Manager Michael Carrick praised the clean-sheet performance and said the team executed the game plan.
Sabah coach Valdas Dambrauskas said his side lacked defensive courage and could have done better.

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