Manchester United were unimpressive in their 1-0 win over Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk at Old Trafford as Jose Mourinho's men struggled for the second successive Europa League fixture, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 69th minute goal saving the home team the blushes.

After United lost their first group stage match against Feyenoord, it was a must-win match for the Portuguese manager as the Red Devils could not afford to lose further ground on the group leaders. Zorya, on the other hand, had drawn their first match 1-1 against Turkish side Fenerbahce in their first ever match in the Europa League group stages.

Mourinho's intent was clear from the kick-off as the line-up had only four changes from the one that dispatched Leicester 4-1 in the Premier League, with three of them coming at the back. Sergio Romero, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Marcos Rojo and Marouanne Fellaini came in for David de Gea, Antonio Valencia, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera as United started with a strong attacking line-up.

Unfortunately for United, for all their domination of possession (67%), they had only two shots on target all night, the same as the visitors.

The first half had only one chance of note as Paul Pogba's header from a corner wasn't the cleanest of strikes and the ball rolled to the edge of the area, where an onrushing Marcus Rashford smashed his shot off the crossbar. The rest of the half passed uneventfully as United failed to gather any attacking momentum at all.

Fellaini and Pogba were pedestrian with their passing and creativity all night long, and it looked like United were heading for a drab 0-0 draw at home when Jesse Lingard was taken off for Wayne Rooney on 67 minutes.

Rooney's first involvement was an assist as Fosu-Mensah dashed down the right before picking out the United captain with the goal at his mercy. Although Rooney fluffed his shot, it bounced straight to Ibrahimovic, who buried his header from close range for his sixth United goal.

Zorya could not break through as United held on for a narrow win. The display will have manager Jose Mourinho thinking deeply before Sunday's match against Stoke City at home. His preferred front four of Ibrahimovic, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Lingard struggled in front of goal and that could see Anthony Martial in line for a start on Sunday.

Brief Score

Manchester United 1 (Zlatan Ibrahimovic) beat Zorya Luhansk 0