Luke Shaw collected his first-ever winner’s medal on Sunday and reckons Manchester United’s Community Shield win over Leicester can help them hit the ground running this season.
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It had already been a great afternoon for the Red Devils, having confirmed the imminent return of Paul Pogba earlier in the day.
Before that, Jesse Lingard scored a super solo goal to give Manchester United the lead in the 32nd minute.
Ranieri also praised both Leicester and United for their part in the game, which was won by Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late debut header.
He told MUTV: “I’m really happy because it’s my first trophy”.
“Teams have turned up in the last few seasons and thought they can overturn United”.
The Community Shield was the first time for many fans to see Ibrahimovic up close, and the Swede shared his delight at scoring the victor. It feels good. The first official game we play for a trophy and we win.
“Zlatan will be more unsafe when we are more dominant and play closest to the box”, he said. He comes to a winning side – a team who have won their last two matches, in the FA Cup (last season) and today.
“It is an important victory but, of course, we have lots of work to do”.
Meanwhile, Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel slammed the doubters who claim the champions have no chance of retaining the title. I would be not ambitious if I said it was a fantastic performance.
“I don’t think he will take anything less, he will be ruthless with the team, ruthless within the club and maybe that is what United needed”.
“Zlatan is not a very fast player to play 50 metres away from the box like where Vardy can be risky. If you play for a prize you want to win it”. “We need to change this”.
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The Portuguese was impressed with Bailly’s ability to handle Leicester speedy strikers, including Nigerian Ahmed Musa, and also credited the Ivorian’s central defensive partner, Dutchman Daley Blind.
