Manchester United’s new striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s struck late to ensure Jose Mourinho’s reign got off to a winning start as the FA Cup holders beat champions Leicester City 2-1 in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday. The Swedish star’s strike takes The National’s sports cover for Monday, August 8, 2016.
Advertisement
Jesse Lingard opened the scoring for United in the 32nd minute before Jamie Vardy brought Leicester level just seven minutes into the second half.
Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, insisted that he now wants the Community Shield success to be the first of many trophies he wins at United.
While his side came up short, he will have been encouraged by the brightness of their display, three months on from their 5,000-1 Premier League triumph.
It was a big day for United.
Jose Mourinho has played down reports of a new rift with Juan Mata after he replaced the United substitute in stoppage time at Wembley.
“We have good players, I don’t make us smaller than we are, but other teams have this role of being named as favourites to win the league, not Leicester City”.
Advertisement
“We did and I think at the minimum we deserved to arrive at the penalty shootout”, he said. This was a very important game for us – it was hard past year to reach the [FA Cup] final and win the cup, so it’s an honour if you can play this game. “Before the match I asked for 120% and they gave me 120%”. For a man who has played for Barcelona, AC Milan, and Paris St-Germain, he certainly has a few big names to compare it to. We are realistic. If we are mentioned along with those big teams, okay, we will take it, but we are only Leicester City. “Hopefully I can win much more than this”, said Ibrahimović after the match. I’m really happy for the team as well, this can kick-start our season.
