Paul Pogba showed glimpses of his true quality as he netted a stunning goal as part of a double in Manchester United's 4-1 Europa League hammering of Fenerbahce on Thursday.

The Frenchman led the way for United in an emphatic win to bounce back from individual criticism attracted after a poor showing in Monday's 0-0 draw at Liverpool, while Robin van Persie netted a late consolation on his return to Old Trafford.

United took a while to get going, though, as they struggled to craft opportunities before Pogba converted a penalty just after the half-hour mark and fellow Frenchman Anthony Martial followed the midfielder's lead with a second spot-kick in quick succession.

Pogba effectively wrapped things up for United with a spectacular strike just before the break after good work from Wayne Rooney – the captain starting for the first time since the EFL Cup win at Northampton Town on September 21.

The pair combined again at the start of the second half to set Jesse Lingard up for an excellent fourth.

Van Persie's late goal drew a huge round of applause from the crowd, including the watching Alex Ferguson, but it mattered little in the context of the match as United cruised on to six points from three matches in Group A with one of their more convincing wins under Jose Mourinho.

Fenerbahce's compact defence and United's lack of cutting edge resulted in a dearth of opportunities until a fatal error in the 31st minute.

Juan Mata brilliantly brought down Michael Carrick's long-range pass in the area and the off-balance Simon Kjaer tripped the Spaniard, with Pogba coolly dispatching the spot-kick into the left side of the net.

And United had a second penalty just three minutes later, as Martial drove into the Fenerbahce box and went down under pressure from Sener Ozbayrakli before slotting away himself.

The visitors almost gave themselves a lifeline shortly after – Souza beating Matteo Darmian only to see David De Gea block his effort from 10 yards.

But United took full advantage of that let-off and grabbed a third on the stroke of half-time.

Kjaer was culpable again, as Rooney intercepted his misplaced pass and crossed to Lingard, who showed great awareness to tee up Pogba for a marvellous first-time finish into the top-left corner from 20 yards.

United added further gloss to the score just two minutes into the second half. Pogba found Rooney on the edge of the box and the striker laid the ball off to Lingard, who lashed a fine 25-yard effort into the bottom-left corner.

Van Persie almost pulled one back after an hour, but his trademark curling left-footed strike flew just wide of De Gea's right-hand post.

Mata should have given United a fifth 12 minutes from the end when played through by substitute Memphis Depay, but was thwarted by Volkan Demirel.

Van Persie did eventually get his goal, stabbing in from close range after a teasing Emmanuel Emenike cross to spark a huge ovation, but it did nothing to stop the hosts cruising to a comfortable win.

Candreva seals fortunate win for Inter

Antonio Candreva's second-half goal proved enough to secure ten-man Inter's first Europa League win of the season as they beat Southampton 1-0 at San Siro.

The Italian side had come into Thursday's game rooted to the bottom of Group K having failed to win either of their opening two fixtures and looked set for more disappointment as the visitors dominated for an hour.

However, Candreva's superb 67th-minute finish secured a win that, while undoubtedly fortuitous, served to relieve the pressure on under-fire boss Frank de Boer.

And the Dutchman's side showed great resolve to seal the points having being forced to play out the final 13 minutes with ten men after Marcelo Brozovic picked up a second yellow card.

Another positive for Inter was the favourable reception afforded to skipper Mauro Icardi by the home fans following the Argentine's well-publicised falling out with a section of the club's support.

The result snapped a run of four consecutive European defeats for the hosts and maintained their hopes of progressing to the knock-out phase.

But for two superb saves from Samir Handanovic in the final five minutes, Southampton would have claimed at least a point, which was the minimum their performance deserved.

Southampton came close to gifting Inter an early goal when Cuco Martina's loose backpass was pounced upon by Icardi and Fraser Forster had to react smartly to snuff out the danger.

Having survived that early scare, however, the visitors proceeded to dominate the rest of the half, Jay Rodriguez went agonisingly close to giving his side a deserved lead on 28 minutes.

Rodriguez connected with Sam McQueen's fine low cross, only to see the ball cleared off the line by Yuto Nagatomo.

James Ward-Prowse then fired narrowly over the bar after fine approach work from Dusan Tadic, before the Serbian midfielder teed up Martina, who cut in from the right flank but fizzed his shot wide.

Rodriguez again went close in the 38th minute, just failing to get a meaningful connection on a Martina delivery at the far post with the goal gaping.

Inter threatened shortly before the interval when Eder unleashed a fierce shot from just outside the box that whistled narrowly past Forster's right-hand post.

Rodriguez remained in the thick of things after the break as he was foiled by a last-ditch challenge from Miranda and carved out an opportunity for Charlie Austin, whose 20-yard drive flashed wide.

At that stage it seemed only a matter of time before the English side took the lead, but instead it was Inter who broke the deadlock completely against the run of play.

Davide Santon whipped in a low cross from the left and, having got in front of Virgil van Dijk to meet it, Candreva rifled a superb shot past the helpless Forster into the top-left corner. 

Brozovic's senseless foul on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg then rightly earned him a second yellow and Inter were left to hang on.

And cling on they did as Handanovic first denied Van Dijk and then produced an even better save to foil Austin, with Ward-Prowse firing wide with the final chance of the match.

Results on matchday three in the Europa League group stage on Thursday:
                  
Group A
At Manchester, England
Manchester United (ENG) 4 (Pogba 31-pen, 45+1, Martial 34-pen, Lingard 48) Fenerbahce (TUR) 1 (Van Persie 83)
                  
At Rotterdam, Netherlands
Feyenoord (NED) 1 (Jorgensen 55) Zorya Luhansk (UKR) 0
                  
Group B
At Piraeus, Greece
Olympiakos (GRE) 4 (Figueiras 25, Elyounoussi 33, Seba 34, 65) Astana (KAZ) 1 (Kabananga 54)
                  
At Bern
Young Boys (SUI) 3 (Hoarau 18, 52, 82-pen) APOEL (CYP) 1 (Efrem 14)
                  
Group C
At Saint-Etienne, France
Saint-Etienne (FRA) 1 (Ricardinho 70-og) Qabala (AZE) 0
                  
At Mainz, Germany
Mainz (GER) 1 (Yunus Malli 10-pen) Anderlecht (BEL) 1 (Teodorczyk 65)
                  
Group D
At Dublin
Dundalk (IRL) 1 (Benson 52) Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) 2 (Mak 71, Giuliano 77)
                  
At Alkmaar, Netherlands
AZ Alkmaar (NED) 1 (Muehren 72) Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) 2 (Scarione 24, Golasa 82)
                  
Group E
At Rome
Roma (ITA) 3 (El Shaarawy 19, 34, Florenzi 69) Austria Vienna (AUT) 3 (Holzhauser 16, Prokop 82, Kayode 84)
                  
At Plzen, Czech Republic
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1 (Horava 86) Astra Giurgiu (ROU) 2 (Alibec 41, Horava 64-og)
                  
Group F
At Genk, Belgium
Genk (BEL) 2 (Brabec 40, Ndidi 83) Athletic Bilbao (ESP) 0
                  
At Vienna
Rapid Vienna (AUT) 1 (Schaub 7) Sassuolo (ITA) 1 (Schrammel 66-og)
                  
Group G
At Vigo, Spain
Celta Vigo (ESP) 2 (Fontas 29, Orellana 82) Ajax (NED) 2 (Ziyech 22, Younes 71)
                  
At Liege, Belgium
Standard Liege (BEL) 2 (Edmilson Junior 45+1-pen, Belfodil 82) Panathinaikos (GRE) 2 (Ibarbo 12, 36)
                  
Group H
At Lviv, Ukraine
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 5 (Kovalenko 12, Ferreyra 30, Bernard 46, Taison 75, Malyshev 85) Gent (BEL) 0
                  
At Konya, Turkey
Konyaspor (TUR) 1 (Milosevic 9) Braga (POR) 1 (Ahmed Hassan 55)
                  
Group I
At Krasnodar, Russia
Krasnodar (RUS) 0 Schalke (GER) 1 (Konoplyanka 11)
                  
At Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg (AUT) 0 Nice (FRA) 1 (Plea 13)
                  
Group J
At Liberec, Czech Republic
Liberec (CZE) 1 (Sevcik 58) Fiorentina (ITA) 3 (Kalinic 8, 23, Babacar 70)
                  
At Baku
Qarabag (AZE) 2 (Dani Quintana 56, Amirguliyev 87) PAOK (GRE) 0
                  
Group K
At Beersheba, Israel
Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) 0 Sparta Prague (CZE) 1 (Pulkrab 71)
                  
At Milan, Italy
Inter Milan (ITA) 1 (Candreva 67) Southampton (ENG) 0
                  
Group L
At Bucharest
Steaua Bucharest (ROU) 1 (Golubovic 63) FC Zurich (SUI) 1 (Kone 86)
                  
At Ankara
Osmanlispor (TUR) 2 (Rusescu 23, 24) Villarreal (ESP) 2 (N'Diaye 56, Pato 74)