Europa League: Man Utd progress with 2-0 win over Zorya in Ukraine

Henrikh Mkhitaryan celebrates his maiden Man United goal in Ukraine last night. Pic /AFP

Paris: Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored his first Manchester United goal to set up a 2-0 win over Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine last night and take Jose Mourinho's side into the last 32 of the Europa League.

United required only a point to secure progress from Group A but Mkhitaryan's 48th-minute strike and a late Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal separated the sides and took the Premier League club through in second place behind Fenerbahce, who won 1-0 at Feyenoord thanks to a Moussa Sow effort.

The game went ahead despite concerns about the state of the icy, rock-hard pitch at the Chornomorets Stadium in Odessa, almost 1,000 kilometres away from Luhansk in the conflict-torn east of the country.

Mourinho made six changes to the United team following their 1-1 Premier League draw at Everton, including welcoming back Wayne Rooney.

After a goalless first half, United broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half as the Armenian Mkhitaryan burst forward from midfield through the middle of the Zorya defence before finishing past goalkeeper Igor Levchenko.

Sergio Romero made a good save low down from a Mikhail Sivakov header before United wrapped up the victory two minutes from the end. A fine one-touch passing move ended with Paul Pogba sending Ibrahimovic away, the Swede running through and finishing coolly.