Manchester United stars celebrate Wayne Rooney's third goal in the 4-0 win over QPR at Old Trafford.

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Manchester United beat QPR 4-0 at Old Trafford

First win of EPL season for English powerhouses

Angel Di Maria inspires comfortable victory

Radamel Falcao makes debut as second half substitute

CNN  — 

“This is the start of the new Manchester United,” trumpeted Louis Van Gaal after his expensively rebuilt side kick started its Premier League campaign with a 4-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford Sunday.

A defeat and two lackluster draws prior to the international break had left the English powerhouses languishing near the foot of the standings, but this was the first match when all his new signings were in action.

Two of them, Angel Di Maria and Ander Herrera, were on the score sheet while Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo also made their first starts.

With United 4-0 up in the second half, Colombian striker Radamel Falcao was also given his debut from the bench, but could not add to the scoreline.

Former Real Madrid star Di Maria was particularly impressive and his curling free kick gave United an early lead.

He also played a part in the buildup to Herrera’s strike for the second and for Wayne Rooney to score a fine third just before half time.

England captain Rooney is now the joint-third top scorer in Premier League history.

The second half proved left eventful but it was Di Maria again who set up Juan Mata for the fourth before Falcao was introduced with 23 minutes remaining, showing a few glimpses of his undoubted talent.

Harry Redknapp’s QPR offered little in reply but it was still a morale boosting win for Dutchman Van Gaal, who succeeded David Moyes as United manager after their poor 2013-4 campaign.

Van Gaal has been set a target of a top-three finish to guarantee automatic qualification to the Champions League next season, but is already setting his sights higher.

“I want to win the Premier League title,” he announced after the victory. “If it is not this year then the second or third year. I want to give a championship to the fans.”

His side were ending a four-match winless run, which also included an embarrassing defeat to third flight MK Dons in the English League Cup.

“This is special because it is also the birthday of my wife (Truss). I have already given her a present but she said the biggest present shall be the victory. We give it to her,” Van Gaal added.

In other football action Sunday, Hanover 96 joined Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga after a 2-0 win over Hamburg, which left the visitors at the bottom of the table.

First-half goals from Leon Andreasen and Artur Sobiech gave Hanover three points to move to seven points after three games with champions Bayern and Leverkusen.

In La Liga, Valencia continued its unbeaten start to move into second place with a 3-1 win at home to Espanyol.

Pablo Piatti, Dani Parejo and Paco Alcacer scored for Valencia in a comfortable win.