“He gave me exactly what I needed”, added Mourinho, who sold Mata to United for £37.1m in January 2014 before leading Chelsea to the Premier League title the following season.
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With the match nearing the end of regulation time, Ibrahimovic, who was playing in his first competitive match for the Red Devils, headed home the victor in the 83rd minute.
“That will start at Bournemouth next week and then the next game and the next if we win”.
“I need to take off the smallest player because we were expecting a lot of long balls”. I’ve been here a couple of weeks and I get to win my first trophy with United. That’s what it’s all about, winning trophies. “It was very hard to see players like Depay, Phil Jones, Ashley Young not playing”.
Mourinho also exchanged words with Juan Mata after the midfielder was substituted in stoppage-time, having only come on in the 63rd minute for Jesse Lingard. But he insisted the Spain worldwide now understands why he was replaced.
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.
“The last five minutes were a nightmare”.
The Portuguese earned his first silverware as United manager as debutant Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a late victor on his competitive debut after Jamie Vardy had cancelled out Jesse Lingard’s fine solo opener.
He told BT Sport: “It feels good”. “I’m feeling confident, we have a great squad and there’s more to come from us. We begin with a trophy”. “I have congratulated my players”.
‘The club outside the team is probably the biggest club I’ve played in. “The only one I can compare is Milan, and I’m very honoured and proud to be here”.
The Portuguese boss was appointed as van Gaal’s sucessor in May and won his first trophy as Man United manager in his first competitive game in charge.
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“I would not be ambitious if I said we had a fantastic performance, because it was not a fantastic performance”. Both teams are standing together and you can win another prize [in the Community Shield], so we’re happy.
