This was a truly awful night for Ten Hag, who stood in the pouring rain before the final whistle hoping his side could snatch something to give them hope in a campaign that has been as bleak as the weather.

“Our start to the season has not been good enough,” he said in his programme notes. “Although there are reasons, we will not attempt to hide behind excuses. It is up to us to now to turn our fortunes around. What happens next is up to us and nobody else.”

The early signs are not good.

Hojlund at least provides something positive to reflect on for United.

Marcus Rashford created the Dane’s first with a lofted cross into the six-yard box, where Hojlund beat Sanchez to thump home a header.

Then, after Rashford had sprinted clear only to mess up a routine square pass that should have presented Bruno Fernandes with a tap-in, Hojlund embarked on his own run from halfway, this time with considerably more success to take his Champions League tally to three in two games.

Defensively though, United were shocking from that point on.

Casemiro failed to track Akturkoglu’s run into the box after Sofyan Amrabat had been turned too easily by the touchline, and the Turkey international levelled for a second time.

Onana’s £47m price-tag came with the assurance he is good with his feet. But when the Cameroon keeper sent a pass from the edge of his six-yard box straight to Dries Mertens, his goal only survived because Casemiro fouled the Belgian and Icardi missed the penalty.

There was no reprieve when Icardi won it four minutes later, and the jubilant celebrations of visiting fans scattered all over Old Trafford only made a bad night worse for United.