MANCHESTER: Holders Manchester United powered into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 4-0 win over Championship side Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford on Saturday with Bastian Schweinsteiger being one of their scorers on a rare run-out for the former Germany captain.

United used the aerial route to gain a 2-0 lead, with Marouane Felliani breaking Wigan’s dogged resistance in the 43rd minute by heading in a cross from Schweinsteiger and Anthony Martial then set up Chris Smalling for another header.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan finished off a flowing counterattack for the third before Schweinsteiger added United’s fourth, marking his first start for the club in 385 days with a delightful overhead kick.

“We deserved to win, the job is done and we are in the last 16,” United manager Jose Mourinho told the BBC. “The first half was not very, very good but we managed to be 1-0 in front. The second half was much better and the job was done.”

The United boss also insisted that Schweinsteiger would not be leaving Old Trafford.

“He is staying. He is going on our Europa League list because we have opened spaces with [Memphis] Depay and [Morgan] Schneiderlin [leaving] and we don’t have many players,” the Portuguese coach added.

Published in Dawn January 31st, 2017