Al’s simply San-sational

Man United ..... 2 Huddersfield ..... 0

JOSE MOURINHO rolled out the red carpet for Alexis Sanchez’s home debut – and the Chilean showed why he is going to be box office at this club.

The message from the Manchester United manager to the club’s fans was: “Today gives you the opportunity to welcome a top player to Old Trafford.

“We are all delighted to have signed one of the best attacking players in the world.”

Sanchez responded with his first goal for United – even if it was via a rebound from goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, who saved the new boy’s penalty.

The former Arsenal hero was United’s best player on a day when he came in for some rough treatment from a desperate Huddersfield, who are sinking fast after a promising start to life in the Premier League.

It is now eight league games without a win for the Yorkshire club who never looked like winning this Roses battle.

It took United until the 55th minute to break Huddersfield’s resistance, when Romelu Lukaku scored his 19th goal of the season.

Huddersfield boss David Wagner had wanted his side to make life

“uncomfortable” for United. That is what Town did when they inflicted a shock defeat on the Red Devils at the John Smith’s Stadium in October.

And the first to feel uncomfortable was United midfielder Scott McTominay, surprisingly preferred to record-signing Paul Pogba.

McTominay is 6ft 4in but he was flattened inside the penalty area by Terence Kongolo’s reckless challenge in the air.

To the bewilderment of Mourinho there was no penalty award or action taken against the Terriers defender.

Philip Billing, however, was booked for a heavy challenge on Marcos Rojo in the

23rd minute.

And that seemed to make Wagner uncomfortable enough to replace Billing

11 minutes later with Aaron Mooy. Not surprisingly, United dominated possession and Town keeper Lossl made saves from Jesse Lingard after a fine run and a great strike by Sanchez.

The Chilean had a mixed first half at Old Trafford as a United player.

And his frustration got the better of him in added time when he was yellow carded for a foul from behind on Florent Hadergjonaj.

The former Arsenal star then had a goal-bound shot blocked by Huddersfield skipper Tommy Smith who, a minute later, was booked for a foul on Sanchez.

United ramped up the pressure from the beginning of the second half and made the breakthrough in the 55th minute

Juan Mata crossed well from the left and Lukaku produced a sweet left-foot finish.

There was no doubt after that about the outcome as United, with Pogba on as a substitute, dominated.

Goal No.2 arrived in the 68th minute after Sanchez had been brought down in the box by sub Michael Hefele.

Sanchez took the penalty and scored from the rebound after Lossl had saved his first attempt.

After that, United coasted home to reduce Manchester City’s lead at the top of the table to 13 points.

But Huddersfield’s great adventure after winning promotion last season is increasingly becoming a struggle.

They never looked like scoring and their goals shortage is threatening to cost them dearly.

Later, Mourinho was unhappy with the atmosphere at Old Trafford and even said the noise at Portsmouth’s Fratton Park is better.

The United boss was initially asked about Sanchez and said: “This was the his first match at Old Trafford.

“Obviously the players feel very comfortable playing here in spite of it being a quiet stadium,.

“I remember Portsmouth – such a small stadium, the atmosphere was absolutely incredible.

“Here, the atmosphere is a bit quiet.” Mourinho also felt Huddersfield’s Rajiv van La Parra should have been booked for pretending to be injured.

Wagner agreed that Van La Parra had made himself look “silly”.

The Huddersfield boss added: “We started well. We wanted to frustrate Manchester United but unfortunately we couldn’t do it for the whole game.

“I don’t like it that we are now in the bottom three but we knew we had difficult games coming up.

“But it might be easier now chasing clubs above us. We have to create the atmosphere we have at home and fight to survive.”

Mourinho also revealed that Marouane Fellaini had minor knee surgery yesterday which should keep him out until the end of next month.