Manchester United continued their unbeaten start to the season and in some style, as goals from Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave the Red Devils a 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow. 

The traveling Manchester United contingent couldn't have asked for a better start with Lukaku opening the scoring after four minutes, Alan Dzagoev and Mkhitaryan came close for both sides but Martial's penalty and Lukaku's second made sure the visitors were in the drivers seat going into the break. 

The bombardment continued well into the second period with Mkhitaryan's goal sandwiched between excellent chances from Lukaku and Jesse Lingard, Matteo Darmian came close to a fifth towards the end before Konstantin Kuchaev got a consolation but the damage had already been dealt. 

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Starting off with a bang 

It had been an excellent start to the season for José Mourinho's men ahead of their trip to the Russian capital, many will have pin-pointed this as their first real test but The Red Devil's couldn't have asked for a better start. 

Once again it was the season's early bright sparks in Martial and Lukaku who combined for the opener, the Frenchman did well to hold off the pressure to float a ball into the back stick where Lukaku stretched to head beyond Igor Akinfeev. 

All the hard work nearly went down the drain almost instantaneously, the chance didn't look much as Aleksandr Golovin mistimed his effort but it was perfect for Alan Dzagoev who forced David De Gea to push it behind. 

United could have easily made it two in the 12th minute as Mkhitaryan started the move spreading it out to Daley Blind, the Dutchman played a blinding ball back into the mixer for the Armenian but his effort was well blocked by Akinfeev. 

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Certainly saw it coming 

Mourinho himself wouldn't have expected the ferocity of his side so early into the clash, and the Red Devils weren't settling for the single goal as they managed to win a penalty in the 18th minute. 

It was brilliant from Mkhitaryan to power into the area before going down under the challenge of Georgi Schennikov giving referee Jonas Eriksson no choice, Martial stepped up and he made it look so easy as he slotted into the bottom corner. 

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Already over as a contest 

Martial and Lukaku had already continued their excellent starts to the campaign with one goal each in the early stages, but they rounded up the contest with Lukaku's second and United's third. 

Martial once again proved deadly down the left-hand side as he made enough space to get a ball in, the bounce caught out Vasili Berezutski which allowed the unmarked Lukaku to poke it into the roof of the net. 

His hat-trick could have been wrapped up seven minutes later, the Belgian received the ball from Mkhitaryan on the edge of the area but hitting it low towards the bottom corner but Akinfeev got down to turn it away. 

De Gea had barely featured in the opening 45 minutes, but made it count when he was called upon in the 37th minute as he reacted well to tip Fedor Chalov's effort over the crossbar. 

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Scoring four the fun of it 

The Red Devils certainly hadn't lost any of that ferocity from the first 45 minutes, and Lukaku could have had a hat-trick four minutes after the restart. 

The striker did brilliantly to slip between two defenders and take a lovely first touch from Martial's pacy ball, Lukaku's volley looked good but Akinfeev did well to beat it away. 

It wasn't long after until United added their fourth of the night and once again Martial had a hand in it, the Frenchman runs through on goal but his effort was blocked by Akinfeev. Unfortunately for the Russian it was straight into the path of Mkhitaryan who made an excellent run to turn it home from close-range. 

Lingard nearly made it five just seconds after coming off the bench, Martial breezes past the two Moscow defenders before sliding it through to Lingard but it was saved by the feet of the onrushing Akinfeev. 

Darmian nearly rounded off the scoring with ten minutes play, it was simple from United as Nemanja Matić played an excellent ball to find the run of the Italian who was one-on-one but Akinfeev once again did well to block. 

Taking some consolation 

It certainly wasn't one to remember for a large majority of the crowd inside the VEB Arena, but the fans were given something to cheer about in the dying embers with nothing more than a consolation goal. 

It was well worked by Viktor Goncharenko's side as Golovin played a brilliantly ball over the top to Kuchaev, the angle was against the youngster but he did well to take it on his chest before firing it between the legs of De Gea. 

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.