DUNN

saved by Jonas Lossl, but he was on to the rebound and, with their lead doubled, United could coast. Not that Sanchez coasted. He was here to impress, dropping deep, pushing on, before finally playing a central role when Romelu Lukaku, who had volleyed his team ahead early in the second half, was withdrawn.

Players, such as Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, will know their game time is going to get shorter because Sanchez is the sort Jose Mourinho will find impossible to leave out as a starter. It will be harder than leaving Paul Pogba out, it seems.

As shots across bows go, this one was a decent cannon blast.

Not just dropping Pogba, but dropping him for Scott Mctominay, who, after recovering from being wiped out by Terence Kongolo, had a steady enough game. As did Juan Mata, as did Luke Shaw, as did Chris Smalling, as did most.

Steady performances, but they were hardly statement performances. That came from Sanchez. It was the sort of performance that would have found favour with Sir Bobby Charlton, no doubt.

Sir Bobby was joined in the Old Trafford stands by fellow survivor Harry Gregg and the families of the Munich Air Disaster’s victims.

This coming Tuesday marks the 60th anniversary of the tragedy, with a special ceremony taking place in the East Stand.

Before this win, there was a minute’s silence, and everyone was given a complimentary programme with a specially written book (left) about how the club dealt with the tragedy.

You can be one of those ‘Anyone But United’ types, but this is a club that does a lot of things right. It does this thing right, you can be sure of that.

The best way modern-day players can do memories justice is to play with adventure and an indomitable spirit.

They did that for many years under Sir Alex Ferguson and it’s been quite a while coming, but they may, just may, yet do it under Mourinho.

Certainly, now they have Sanchez in their ranks. REPORT: