Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho gestures during the defeat to Feyenoord
Rotterdam - It was United's second consecutive defeat after Saturday's painful loss to bitter rivals Manchester City
Published: Fri 16 Sep 2016, 12:37 PM
Last updated: Fri 16 Sep 2016, 11:49 PM
Jose Mourinho's reluctant return to the Europa League ended in embarrassment as Tonny Vilhena fired Feyenoord to a 1-0 win over Manchester United in their Group A opener on Thursday night.
For a man with a keen eye for his position in the football hierarchy, competing in the Europa League for the first time in 13 years was an unappetising prospect for Mourinho and his players seemed equally uninspired as a much-changed United line-up succumbed to Vilhena's late strike at De Kuip.
It was United's second consecutive defeat after Saturday's painful loss to bitter rivals Manchester City in the Premier League and Mourinho will hope his decision to make eight changes against Feyenoord is rewarded with a victory when they return to domestic action at Watford on Sunday.
Twice a Champions League winner with Porto and Inter Milan, Mourinho is usually launching his latest bid for Europe's top prize at this time of year.
With Wayne Rooney rested and only David de Gea, Paul Pogba and Eric Bailly retained from the side beaten by City, it was little surprise to see United deliver a disjointed performance.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's team had swept to the top of the Dutch league with five successive victories and they started brightly as Steven Berghuis and Vilhena brought de Gea into action with long-range efforts.
Careless with their passing and lacking a cutting edge up front, United - also reluctantly in the Europa League group stages for the first time - were unconvincing for long periods.
Even so, they still carved out the best chance of the first half when Matteo Darmian's cross picked out Anthony Martial, who should have done better than fire wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Not for the first time since his world-record move to United, France midfielder Pogba was a subdued figure and he shot tamely over early in the second half.
With teenage striker Marcus Rashford hauled off after failing to make the most of his first start of the season, Mourinho used all three of his substitutes in the 63rd minute as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Memphis Depay and Ashley Young came on.
But United were no more energised and they paid for their lethargic display in the 79th minute.
Exposed down the right flank by a Nicolai Jorgensen's run that beat the offside trap, United's defenders were noticable by their absence when the unmarked Vilhena swept home from just inside the penalty area.
Europa League Results
Group stage
Thursday
Group A
At Rotterdam, Netherlands
Feyenoord (NED) 1 (Vilhena 79) Manchester United (ENG) 0
At Odessa, Ukraine
Zorya Luhansk (UKR) 1 (Grechyshkin 52) Fenerbahce (TUR) 1 (Kjaer 90+5)
Group B
At Bern
BSC Young Boys (SUI) 0 Olympiakos (GRE) 1 (Cambiasso 42)
At Nicosia
APOEL (CYP) 2 (Vinicius 75, De Camargo 87) Astana (KAZ) 1 (Maksimovic 45+1)
Group C
At Mainz, Germany
FSV Mainz 05 (GER) 1 (Bungert 57) Saint-Etienne (FRA) 1 (Beric 88)
At Brussels
Anderlecht (BEL) 3 (Teodorczyk 14, Rafael 41-og, Capel 77) Qabala (AZE) 1 (Dabo 20)
Group D
At Alkmaar, Netherlands
AZ Alkmaar (NED) 1 (Stijn Wuytens 61) Dundalk (IRL) 1 (Kilduff 89)
At Netanya, Israel
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 3 (Medunjanin 26, 70, Kjartansson 50) Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) 4 (Kokorin 77, Mauricio 84, Giuliano 86, Djordjevic 90+2)
Group E
At Bucharest
Astra Giurgiu (ROU) 2 (Alibec 18, Sapunaru 74) Austria Vienna (AUT) 3 (Holzhauser 16-pen, Friesenbichler 33, Alexander Gruenwald 58)
At Plzen, Czech Republic
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1 (Bakos 11) Roma (ITA) 1 (Perotti 4-pen)
Group F
At Reggio Emilia, Italy
Sassuolo (ITA) 3 (Lirola 60, Defrel 75, Politano 82) Athletic Bilbao (ESP) 0
At Vienna
Rapid Vienna (AUT) 3 (Schwab 51, Joelinton 59, Colley 60-og) Genk (BEL) 2 (Bailey 29, 90-pen)
Group G
At Athens
Panathinaikos (GRE) 1 (Berg 5) Ajax (NED) 2 (Traore 34, Riedewald 67)
At Liege, Belgium
Standard Liege (BEL) 1 (Dossevi 3) Celta Vigo (ESP) 1 (Rossi 13)
Group H
At Konya, Turkey
Konyaspor (TUR) 0 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 1 (Ferreyra 76)
At Braga, Portugal
Sporting Braga (ESP) 1 (Andre Pinto 24) Gent (BEL) 1 (Milicevic 6)
Group I
At Salzburg, Austria
FC Salzburg (AUT) 0 FK Krasnodar (RUS) 1 (Joaozinho 37)
At Nice, France
Nice (FRA) 0 Schalke (GER) 1 (Baba Rahman 75)
Group J
At Baku
Qarabag (AZE) 2 (Michel 7, Sadygov 90+4) Liberec (CZE) 2 (Sykora 1, Baros 68)
At Thessaloniki, Greece
PAOK (GRE) 0 Fiorentina (ITA) 0
Group K
At Milan, Italy
Inter Milan (ITA) 0 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (ISR) 2 (Miguel Vitor 54, Buzaglo 69)
At Southampton, England
Southampton (ENG) 3 (Austin 5-pen, 27, Rodriguez 90+2) Sparta Prague (CZE) 0
Group L
At Ankara
Osmanlispor (TUR) 2 (Diabate 64-pen, Umar 74) Steaua Bucharest (ROU) 0
At Vila-real, Spain
Villarreal (ESP) 2 (Pato 28, Jonathan dos Santos 45+1) FC Zurich (SUI) 1 (Sadiku 2)
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