Sesko soars as Manchester United surge past Sabah on Champions League return
It was a night for romance given the astonishing story that Sabah brought with them to Old Trafford for their Champions League debut. This is a club that did not even exist a decade ago and nobody saw their bolt to the title in Azerbaijan coming last season; in 2024-25, they had finished 41 points off the top. The job that their manager, Valdas Dambrauskas, has done since taking over in the summer of last year is extraordinary. It was also a night for cold, hard reality.
Manchester United were back in Europe’s elite competition after a two-year hiatus and in need of something to soothe them after the trauma of their last-gasp coughing up of two points in Sunday’s Premier League draw at Everton. And ahead of the extremely serious business of Sunday’s derby here against Manchester City. They got it on the back of a first-half performance that burned slowly before catching fire.
Background: how the league phase works
The Champions League format introduced in 2024/25 puts 36 clubs in a single league table. Each club plays eight different opponents, with four matches at home and four away. A win earns three points and a draw earns one. Because teams face different opponents, a single result does not tell the whole story of a club's position.
The top eight advance directly to the round of 16. Teams finishing ninth to 24th enter a two-legged knockout play-off; those finishing 25th or lower are eliminated. When following a match report, distinguish the result from its effect on qualification: that depends on the wider table and the fixtures still to come.
Sources and context
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