Erik ten Hag's side were confronted with the prospect of a shock defeat following Karim Ansarifard's opener, which came against the run of play, but a brace from Rashford either side of Martial's well-taken strike turned the game on its head, prior to Nikolaos Panagiotou’s late consolation.
Here are some of the top talking points we noticed from Nicosia...
STRONG LINE-UP
When the team was announced at 16:30 BST, it was clear United meant business. Weeks ago, at the time of the draw, some may have viewed this as the game to blood youngsters, but the home defeat to Real Sociedad has magnified the importance of the double-headers with Sheriff and Omonia – we don’t face La Real again until matchday six – meaning there isn’t a lot of room for error if we want to secure top spot in the group and avoid a round-of-32 play-off against a side dropping out of the Champions League groups.