Ibrahimovic maintained his record of scoring on debut in new leagues, as he has done in Italy, Spain, France and now England.
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Mourinho led to Red Devils to their first piece of silverware as Manchester United beat Leicester City 2-1 to win the Community Shield at Wembley.
United were without new world record signing Paul Pogba for the season opener as he is now serving a suspension.
But the magnitude of the United job meant even an experienced campaigner like Mourinho felt a few nerves before his first league match.
It was not the way Manchester United would have expected to open their account for the season, but Mourinho is all about winning football games, no matter how. “He wants to win the Premier League, not the Golden Ball. This guy (Ibrahimovic) is more than a player”, Mourinho said. “We weren’t surprised and then we started playing”, Mourinho reflected. It was a good game, a good start. “It’s a real marathon and then there’s space for everyone”. These sorts of games were the ones where we conceded goals a year ago so maybe when we go 2-0 down we need to be more defensive and stay in the game rather than chase it.
Bournemouth played well in the first half.
Bournemouth defender Adam Smith scored a consolation goal at the 69th to avoid a humiliating shutout right in their home field during the team’s opening game of the season.
‘The first thing I can tell you is that his table for breakfast and for meals is surrounded by the young ones, the kids, ‘ he said. “We’ve made four great signings who’ll improve our team”. I just play my game.
With his worldwide teammates questioning the sense behind Mourinho’s actions, it remains to be seen how long he remains at Old Trafford, as ultimately he’ll want to be playing regular football.
‘I believe in my own ability, I’m confident and I believe I’m good enough to play.
“The second, if I can, is to score”.
Fellaini hopes to see “more goals” this season from United, and acknowledges that the team have to “keep working and keep improving” with every game and each training session.
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“It was a hard game”, he told Sky Sports.
