Manchester United 1-0 Astana: 3 reasons why Man Utd won | UEFA Europa League

Manchester United have gotten their Europa League campaign off to a winning start, as 17-year-old Mason Greenwood saved the blushes of his teammates by seizing the opening game against Astana by the scruff of its neck.

Man Utd was the dominant team, however, the Red Devils struggled to create clear cut chances, as well as bury opportunities. United started troubling the Astana goal as early as the third minute, with Fred letting loose a shot from 20 yards which hit the crossbar.

United continued to hog possession as they carved and missed several opportunities, with Marcus Rashford most notably missing a string of chances which seemed far easier to score. Kudos should go to Astana's goalkeeper, Nenad Eric, for keeping his side in the game for much longer, as he was on hand to crucially deny Rashford an opening goal on more than one occasion.

It was a second-string United side, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer choosing to rest the bulk of his starters, and they continued to huff and puff until the 73rd minute when a moment of brilliance from Mason Greenwood broke the deadlock.

The 17-year-old grabbed his first senior goal for United by exquisitely cutting onto his right foot and smashing the ball past Eric and into the net.

The 2017 champions begin their quest with a win, and in this article, we try to make sense of United's victorious opener.

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#3 Utterly dominant Manchester United

Manchester United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

This was very obvious, as Manchester United bullishly dominated proceedings from the first blast of the whistle.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have fielded a second-string side but his boys pinned the Kazakhstan champions in their half, as the Red Devils huffed and puffed away, trying to find an opener.

Man Utd had a staggering 75 per cent of the possession and a total of 20 shots. Astana, on the other hand, didn't muster even a single shot on target, with Kazakhstan's champions only having a paltry 3 shots in total.

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#2 Astana came to park the bus

Astana manager, Roman Hryhorchuk

It's been very evident this season that Manchester United struggle to break teams which lie deep in their half, as even with heavy hitters like Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial in the side, they have fallen short in that regard time and again.

The United team is set to play on the counter, with speed demons like Martial, Marcus Rashford, and Daniel James always rearing to break on the counter. However, when teams cede possession to United for large swathes of the game, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men struggle to string brilliant attacking manoeuvres.

Therefore, it wasn't surprising to see Roman Hryhorchuk's men playing behind the ball in droves. They, however, troubled United when they decided to attack briefly in the second half, as they threatened to take the lead on several occasions.

The tact almost earned Astana a draw, however, Mason Greenwood had other ideas. As they say - "fortune favours the brave".

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#1 A moment of magic from Mason Greenwood

Manchester United's Mason Greenwood

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said Mason Greenwood is one of the best finishers he has seen, and the 17-year-old rewarded his manager's faith in him tonight with a brilliant individual effort which brought back loving memories of Robin Van Persie.

It's too soon to compare the young Englishman to the legend, however, Greenwood has that Van Persie-esque swagger about him.

In a moment of magic, Greenwood shifted his weight from his dominant left foot to the right, turning Astana's Dorin Rotariu inside out and stabbing the ball through the legs of Eric Nenad that brought about the decisive goal of the game.