Man Utd 1 Zorya Luhansk 0: Zlatan Ibrahimovic's close-range header gives hosts first Europa League win

it was not quite the swashbuckling intervention Wayne Rooney would have had in mind when he finally entered the scene as a second half substitute at Old Trafford on tonight but the Manchester United captain could at least lay claim to helping his side avoid more embarrassment in the Europa League.

Rooney had only been on the field two minutes when his first touch, a bungled attempt at a shot, suddenly and unexpectedly translated into an assist for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose sixth goal in eight starts was enough to finally breach Zorya Luhansk’s resistance and spare manager Jose Mourinho some harder questions.

Whether Rooney’s contribution will be enough to see him force his way back into the starting XI at home to Stoke City in the Premier League remains to be seen – and a badly overhit pass in the 84th minute pointed to a ring-rusty player – but it was enough on the night. Having lost 1-0 to Feyenoord in their opening group fixture, a drab goalless draw to the Ukrainian minnows was not what Mourinho would have had in mind but that scenario was averted, to some relief, 20 minutes from time.

There were no Rooney again but, unfortunately for the United faithful, no repeat of the rampaging first half that had left Leicester City trailing 4-0 at half-time five days earlier. Marcus Rashford hit the crossbar with a thundering shot and Jesse Lingard had a header well blocked, but for all the control United exerted, there was too little in the way of cutting edge as Zorya sat deep, packed men behind the ball and hoped for a chink of light on the counter-attack, not that they indulged in much of that.

The highlights reel in those opening 45 minutes included Jose Mourinho berating Ivan Petriak for diving, moments after the Zorya winger had been dumped on his backside by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the sight of a linesman producing a comic fall spoke volumes really.

This was not Louis van Gaal football at its most tedious, there were at least some energetic bursts, but breaking down teams who park the bus does not come that easily to United these days and this offered another reminder of the work Mourinho has to do.

Compare this to the deafening noise and sense of anticipation at Celtic Park in the Champions League the previous night when Celtic and Manchester City played out a thrilling 3-3 draw, though, and it is easy to see why Mourinho has been honest enough to admit he does not want to be in this competition. Twenty minutes had elapsed when Juan Mata’s corner was flicked on by the head of Paul Pogba and the ball sat up nicely for Rashford, who crashed a bullet of a shot against the bar.

United were probably unfortunate a couple of brightening concluded with Lingard on the end of things and not Ibrahimovic, the winger swiping at thin air on one occasion and directing a header from Marcos Rojo’s cross at a Zorya body.

With Rooney hampered slightly by a minor back problem, Mourinho was, he said, reticent about playing his captain out of concern that a poor game would invite more criticism and, as such, had plonked him on the substitutes’ bench for the second game running. Whether from Rooney, someone out on the pitch or another substitute, though, United needed some inspiration, some impetus from somewhere because there was a lot of huffing and puffing and very little else.

Zorya’s one attack of note in the first period had come in the fifth minute when Petriak’s pull back was blazed over by Zeljko Ljubenovic and United almost got a nasty surprise soon after the restart when Ljubenovic narrowly failed to connect with Olexandr Kulach’s cross on a Zorya breakaway when Rojo was left trailing. No United player seemed to want to grab the bull by the horns. Pogba flickered but was struggling to assert his authority, Ibrahimovic started to drop deeper, Mata buzzed around without doing a great deal and Rashford and Lingard were not as effective on the flanks as Mourinho would have hoped as the hour mark came and went and the scoreline remained a decidedly flat 0-0.