United finished outside the Premier League’s top four last term, so Mourinho has been rebuilding his squad since replacing the sacked Louis van Gaal and two of the new signings impressed against Leicester.
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A late header from debutant Zlatan Ibrahimovic sealed a 2-1 victory for Jose Mourinho’s side at Wembley, who look set to be strengthened by the signing of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.
Jamie Vardy equalized for the league champions in the 52nd, pouncing on a short back pass from Marouane Fellaini, who had done well initially to track back and break up play.
All things considered, summer signing Ibrahimovic, 34, routinely had the last word with seven minutes to go, moving to meet Antonio Valencia’s cross and beat Kasper Schmeichel by strategy for the post.
Manchester United are determined to challenge for the title this season, as they begin competitive football under Jose Mourinho. I think it’s an important victory but of course we have lots of work to do.
United’s new boss will be very pleased to kick-off his reign with silverware; though it does draw parallels with how David Moyes kicked-off his tenure.! “I put my hand on the surface and thought “wow, we’re in trouble” because we wanted a fast pitch”.
Ranieri introduced Musa and Demarai Gray at half-time and the former played a big role in Leicester’s 52nd-minute equaliser with an enterprising run from deep.
“My individual performances will come”, he said to MUTV.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan made his official United debut as a stoppage-time substitute. In this moment, Oscar is my No 10 and, if anyone tells me Oscar has not been Chelsea’s best player this season, I’d have to disagree. My ambition is to win every game, so my ambition now is to win against Bournemouth.
Jesse Lingard gave United the lead, following on from his FA Cup-winning goal against Crystal Palace, with a solo effort.
But Mourinho did not particularly rate the achievement of being named the best player in a team who had finished sixth and third in the Premier League, despite winning the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League.
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There is no doubt Mata was frustrated, but so were the players Mourinho didn’t pick when sending on Mata in the first place.
