Goals from Wayne Rooney,Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard, along with an own goal from former Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Jones, secured a comfortable 4-0victory for Manchester United in their must-win Europa Leagueclash with Feyenoord on Thursday.
The Dutch giants caused an upset when they turned over Jose Mourinho's side in September, but there was little chance of a repeat as the Red Devils added the goals to match anothercommanding performance, in stark contrast with recent Premier League matches.
39 “ Wayne Rooney is now Manchester United's outright top-scorer in Europe, netting one more than Ruud van Nistelrooy (38). Continental.
The first half began with the Old Trafford faithfulin fine voice, clearly expecting to be entertained by the very attack-minded line-up selected by Mourinho. The players clearly responded, as they set about Feyenoord at a rapid tempo. However, the early pressure failed to yield a chance, and the crowd quietened as the game slowed up.
The lower tempoallowed the Dutch side, who sit two points clear atop the Dutch Eredivisie under the guidance of former Arsenal and Barcelona defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst, to get a foothold in the game. United struggled to fashion a chance before Feyenoord had the game's first clear opportunity after 25 minutes.
Eljero Elia, formerly of Southampton, gave Phil Jones twisted blood just inside the United penalty area, and cut the ball back dangerously to force Sergio Romero, afforded a rare game, to pull off a stunning double save. The Argentine's second stop was particularly impressive, and was even sweeter for the home faithful, coming as it did from former Liverpool workhorse Dirk Kuyt.
.@WayneRooney starts it and finishes it! A delightful chip from the @ManUtd captain breaks the deadlock.  #UEL https://t.co/cw9WZ66FSL
Ten minutes later, United made the most of their let-off, as under-fire captain Wayne Rooney opened the scoring. The 31-year-old played an extended one-two with strike partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic, getting in behind the Feyenoord back-line before dinking a composed finish over the onrushingJones.
There was more than ahint of a foul in the build-up to Rooney's strike, which could also have been ruled outfor offside, but the goal stood. Lots of Rooney's other attributes - first touch andpace, to name just two - have long since been on the wane, but his finishing remains as clinical as ever.
The dink took the England captainclear of Ruud van Nistelrooy as United's all-time top scorer in European competition, and within one of Bobby Charlton's club record of 249 goals.
Even after all these years, Rooney still an expert at making space for himself pic.twitter.com/pYVlUnEBUO
United started the second half with real intent, clearly intending to kill the game, wary of the fact they have failed to kill off their last three home Premier Leaguematches. Juan Mata and Henrik Mkhitaryan were floating in from the wings, and Mata nearly doubled the home side's lead with a sumptuous chip from the edge of the box that Jones had to scramble backwards to tip over the bar.
Mkhitaryan then found Mata, who tapped home from close range, but the Spanish bloggerwas clearly offside. United strung together some intricate passing moves, but for as long as theyfailed to create a clear-cut opportunity, nervousness persisted as the Red Devils have recently tofailed to turn dominant home league performances into wins.
GOAL, Juan Mata doubles Manchester United's lead! The home team are cruising, up 2-0 over Feyenoord.
However, thefears of the home fans were all but allayed with just over twenty minutes remaining. Ibrahimovic set Rooney free, and the former Everton man shunned the opportunity to draw level with Charlton, squaring across goal - andgiving Juan Mata a simple tap-in from four yards.
Mata was withdrawn almost immediately, while the game should have been truly put to bed two minutes later.Ibrahimovic saw his poor finish stopped by Jones, having been played in by Mkhitaryan, who looked sharp on his long-awaited reintroduction to the side.
VIDEO: United Strike Twice in Quick Succession to Seal the Win; 3-0 https://t.co/uvCu3w7vam
It didn't take long for that third goal, which finished off Feyenoord once and for all, to come. Ibrahimovic, who looks short on confidence in front of goal, centred from the left, only for goalkeeper Jones to divert the ball over his own goal-line, in trying to cut out the Swede's driven cross.
The final part of the match was little more than a procession, but there was still time for England winger Jesse Lingard add the necessary gloss to the victory. Smart combination play between Antonio Valencia, Marcus Rashford and Lingardwas too much for a demoralised and fatigued Feyenoord to handle, and the latter whipped a clinical left-foot finish past Jones from just outside the penalty area.
Here's tonight's line-up in full... #MUFC #UEL pic.twitter.com/OCJItsDjkP