• Manchester United picked first points with a 2-0 win over Sheriff in Moldova.
• Erik ten Hag’s team had work to do in Group E after losing their opening match at home to Real Sociedad.
• Sheriff was put under no early pressure when Jadon Sancho scored in the 17th minute.

Manchester United defeated Sheriff 2-0 on Thursday in Moldova to earn their first points of the Europa League campaign.

Erik ten Hag’s team had work to do in Group E after losing their opening match at home to Real Sociedad, but they hardly ever gave the impression that they were having trouble in Eastern Europe as they easily defeated a group opponent who had shocked Real Madrid in the Champions League the previous year.

Sheriff was put under no early pressure when Jadon Sancho scored in the 17th minute. He made a good connection with Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes before driving low into the bottom corner. From that point on, United applied pressure, and before the half was up, Patrick Kpozo unceremoniously brought down Diogo Dalot as a result of the pressure.

From the penalty spot, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first-ever goal in the Europa League. In a relaxed second half, United needed nothing more from him or anyone else as they breezed past their final match before the international break.

There were several players who might have felt left out of Gareth Southgate’s plans due to England’s depth in attacking positions. After having a significantly stronger start to his second season with Manchester United than his first, Sancho was undoubtedly one of those. In Chisinau, that trend continued, beginning with a goal that was carefully scored in the 17th minute, just as Sheriff pressure was starting to mount on the opposing goal area.

Eriksen was providing the United forwards with exactly the kind of service they required, as has been the case so frequently this season. Three fast steps later, Sancho was driving low past Maxym Koval after the Dane’s exquisite pass had placed him just inside the penalty box. He might have gotten a second before the break, again benefiting from Antony picking him out at the back post as a summer acquisition. The Sheriff goalie was defeated once more, but Stjepan Radeljic miraculously gained ground to clear the ball off the line.

Sancho finally appears to have found his starting spot after a season in which it fluctuated as much as the manager at Old Trafford. Since Antony’s arrival, he has a berth in the team that is all his, and he can reasonably be sure that, barring a major slump in form, he will be United’s left winger.

It’s debatable whether his finest form at Borussia Dortmund came on the left or right (he was excellent in both positions, after all), but it’s better for him to play consistently in one position than to play center forward one week and then go to the other flank the following week.

Although it wasn’t Sancho’s best performance in a United jersey recently, he has improved under Ten Hag’s guidance, becoming a more dependable and consistent force. In his most recent six games, he has scored three goals, all but one of them coming from the left wing. With only a few weeks left, Sancho still has a chance to persuade Southgate that he is performing well enough to travel to Qatar.

The memorable moments from the Santiago Bernabeu last year may not have occurred again, but the Moldovan champions still demonstrated they belonged among the biggest names in Europe. It would be challenging enough for the crew from the previous year to just duplicate the stunts that surprised so many people on the European stage, but this Sheriff wasn’t even that Sheriff.

The stars of that team, including Cristiano, Adama Traore, and match-winner Sebastien Thill, have rightfully taken advantage of their strong Champions League form to move abroad. None of the starters from the 2-1 victory against Real Madrid were in the starting lineup at Stadionul Zimbru.

However, Sheriff, supported by the dominant Transnistrian firm of a former KGB operative, has replaced their names with a wealth of talent. Iyayi Atiemwen, who had scored in the 3-0 victory at Omonia on Matchday 1, looked strong in possession alongside Cedric Badolo and Mouhamed Diop in the engine room.

The skipper Radeljic may have been the star performer because he was frequently on hand to deflect a United pass to safety as Ronaldo loomed menacingly over his shoulder.

This international team probably won’t stick around for very long, but between now and November they do at least have a chance to, at the very least, guarantee themselves a spot in the Europa Conference League for the upcoming season. They might be able to hurt Real Sociedad in the following games if they can just find the lethal pass that escaped them in this one.

Cristiano Ronaldo did not do much as he returned to the Manchester United starting lineup for the first time since the 4-0 defeat to Brentford last month to suggest that Ten Hag needs to dismantle a strategy that increasingly seems to have evolved beyond the Portuguese.

The veteran player, 37, would delve deeper and deeper into the search for the ball, logging far more touches in Dalot’s area of the field than he would have as a center striker. The Sheriff’s back four were content to let him roam, which would make sense if he had brought defenders with him. Though Radeljic might have had a fake touch to throw him off balance, he rocketed high and wide on the one moment he actually stretched into the gap behind the Sheriff defense.

However, Ronaldo continued to be Ronaldo, scoring United’s second goal from the penalty spot to end the game. He currently has 699 club goals, so it goes without saying that United’s upcoming game will be heavily influenced by the Manchester derby. Even while his footballing prowess may not be what it once was, this man’s talent for storytelling has not diminished.