A 92nd-minute winner from Bruno Fernandes saw Manchester United stave off a late Rangers comeback to seal a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford, tightening the hosts' grip on a top-eight place in the UEFA Europa League (UEL).
Ruben Amorim's pre-match claim that his players are "nervous" in possession almost came true inside the opening 10 minutes when European debutant Toby Collyer was caught in possession.
Thankfully for the kid, Nicolas Raskin failed to get the ball under his spell when played in by Hamza Igamane to allow Altay Bayındır to rush off his line and clear the danger.
Emboldened by that, Rangers went close again moments later when James Tavernier's floated cross found Rıdvan Yılmaz at the back post, but the United goalkeeper comfortably beat away his cushioned volley.
It was in this half's midway where the hosts grew into the game and Raskin crucially headed Alejandro Garnacho's fierce strike over the bar.
From the resulting corner, the Red Devils did have the ball in the net but Matthijs De Ligt's header saw a controversial ruling out due to a minor infringement from Leny Yoro on Robin Pröpper.
That corner was delivered by Amad Diallo, and the Ivorian was left disappointed at not hitting the target himself before the break when he was denied by Jack Butland after being slotted through by Bruno Fernandes.
Rangers' goalkeeper was busy again before the half-time whistle, denying Lisandro Martínez's venomous drive to ensure honours were even at the interval.
United carried their growing momentum into the second half, with Garnacho's well-placed cutback finding Fernandes, whose shot was turned over the bar by Pröpper.
Rangers' rearguard would finally break from the subsequent corner, though blame could be solely placed at the door of ex-Red Devil Butland, who came to punch Christian Eriksen's corner and somehow diverted it backwards into his own net.
By this stage, Rangers had been forced into three substitutions - amongst them the enforced replacement of starman Vaclav Cerny - and it was all Amorim's men, who really ought to have been further in front as Garnacho had an effort cleared off the line by Propper before Harry Maguire inexplicably missed the target with a free header from close range.
Butland went some way to atoning for his previous error when producing a fantastic reflex save to deny Manuel Ugarte's fizzing header, while at the other end Rangers came inches away from equalising when Cyriel Dessers' chip came back off the post.
The Nigeria international made no such mistake two minutes from time, however, pouncing on a weak piece of defending from Maguire and producing a glorious first touch to control Tavernier's long ball and drive an effort into the bottom corner.
But with Sir Alex Ferguson, formerly of both clubs, watching on, United produced a late winner typical of the Scot's era as Fernandes stroked a cultured volley on his 50th UEL appearance from Martinez's cross to hand his side just a second win in five home matches and put them on the brink of automatic qualification.