Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on Paul Pogba after the Manchester United midfielder's standout display on his return to action against Newcastle United.

Playing for the first time in nine weeks following a layoff with a hamstring injury, the Frenchman brought some swagger back to the Red Devils' attacking play.

Pogba helped United draw level after they fell behind by lofting the ball towards the back post for Anthony Martial to head home, before finishing off a fine team move at 2-1 to mark his comeback in style.

United went on to win the match 4-1, with Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku also netting, and Mourinho was given a further boost as Zlatan Ibrahimovic came off the bench for his first appearance in seven months.

Speaking to BT Sport at full time, the Portuguese said: "I am pleased for the three points, the quality of our performance after Newcastle's goal, that mentality to react without panic and in a positive way, and obviously the return of injured players is always nice, especially in Zlatan Ibrahimovic's case. His was such a dramatic injury. To see him back is a great emotion.

"Paul Pogba is different class - Paul and Nemanja Matic grew up together at the start of the season and are the engine of the team. It was in Paul's hands, how many minutes to play until he began to feel fatigued. It was a great performance from him.

"We go match-to-match - we can only play Manchester City twice in a season. In those games we will try to take points - outside of those fixtures we are not in control."

United will hope to have Pogba available when they travel to Basel on Wednesday night, knowing that a point will be enough to see them through to the last-16 stage of the Champions League.