Manchester United went into the game on the back of a disastrous result against Feyenoord in their first group stage tie and the Red Devils had a sense that they must win the match against Zorya with the failure to do so likely to mean that they would need to win all of their remaining games in the hopes of qualifying to the knockout stages.
The Red Devils controlled the whole match with Zorya managing to threaten on a few occasions on the break thanks to the pace and trickery of their wingers, especially, Petriak, who on the day, was the best Zorya player on the pitch. With the scores level around the hour mark, Mourinho brought in Rooney to change the pace of the game and United got a result instantly.
The United captain left his marker for dead inside the box with clever movement as Timothy Fosu-Mensah did well to dribble past two players on the byline and deliver a fast-paced cross directly at Rooney, who misfired it into Zlatan’s path. The Swede scored, what turned out to be the only goal of the game as United edged out a Zorya side that managed to impress the on-lookers with their tenacity.