Following his strike at Bournemouth, he has scored on his debuts in the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Champions League. “He knows what he can be for them”.
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Adam Smith scored a consolation goal for the Cherries. Forget that he is 34, the body and the mentality is not of 34. “After that we start finding our spaces to play and in the second half I think it was a very complete performance”.
“It’s incredible how Zlatan Ibrahimovic has never won the Golden Ball”, Mourinho told BBC Sport.
Comparisons between Ibrahimovic and the similarly enigmatic ex-Old Trafford terrace hero Eric Cantona will become more prevalent if the former can prolong his early scoring run, but Mourinho feels such talk is not overly relevant.
The Telegraph reported that Mata, was a surprise starter and only in the side due to Jesse Lindgard’s injury, but that being said Mata will have shown Mourinho that his career at Old Trafford may not be as dead and buried as reported in The Mirror back in May. “The environment, the new stadiums but slowly I get settled in and I just play my game and make the team win and I continue like that”.
Ibrahimovic picked up the ball in midfield and unleashed a low 25-meter shot past Artur Boruc into the corner of the net.
“Of course we are bitterly disappointed”, said the Frenchman, who will mark his 20th year in charge next month.
Handed the No. 9 shirt worn last season by Anthony Martial, Ibrahimovic has displaced Rashford from the starting lineup and given United a different kind of presence up front to the pacey England global.
BARCELONA UP: Luis Suarez and Munir El Haddadi scored in the second half to give Barcelona a 2-0 win at Sevilla in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. Theo Walcott fired in the first goal for the Gunners in the 31st minute, moments after missing a penalty.
A tepid first half display wouldn’t have eased Mourinho’s anxiety but the game changed completely once a woeful backpass by Bournemouth defender Simon Francis was punished by Juan Mata in the 40 minute.
“Scoring four goals is wonderful, conceding three is the opposite of that emotion”, he said.
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Mourinho offloaded Mata as Chelsea manager and raised doubts about his faith in the player by substituting him and then off again in last week’s Community Shield win over Leicester. “It was hard work but a deserved win in the end”.
