Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a superb goal just four minutes into his Manchester United debut and promised that there would be much more to come after they thrashed Turkish side Galatasaray 5-2 .
Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a superb goal just four minutes into his Manchester United debut and promised that there would be much more to come after they thrashed Turkish side Galatasaray 5-2 in a friendly in Gothenburg on Saturday.
The 34-year-old Swede, who arrived at Old Trafford on a free transfer after a trophy-laden four-year spell with Paris St Germain, wasted no time in making his presence felt, flinging himself into the air to meet Antonio Valencia's cross.
He did not get the cleanest contact on the ball but his scissors kick bounced past Fernando Muslera in Galatasaray's goal and sent thousands of Swedish fans into raptures. With Wayne Rooney netting twice and Valencia recording three assists against the rudderless Turkish outfit, a delighted Ibrahimovic said it was shaping up to be an exciting season, especially if United's transfer target Paul Pogba arrives from Juventus.
"I'm going to help the team as much as I can and do what I'm good at, creating chances and scoring goals," he told Swedish TV. "There is something big on the go, it's going to be very interesting this year. Let us say that if Pogba comes too, it's going to be very interesting," he added with a smile. Galatasaray threatened to spoil Zlatan's party when Sinan Gumus headed the equaliser from a Wesley Sneijder free kick, and Portuguese winger Bruma then rifled home to put Galatasaray ahead four minutes before the break.
Jose Mourinho told Man Utd's official website: “The most important thing was to play, to give minutes to the players. To the ones that played less, they played 30 minutes. To the ones that played the most, they had 60, 65 minutes. They need to play. We lost a week in China and some of the boys who played today, they trained for two days. We made that decision to give them 30 or 45 minutes of the game, feeling that it would be better for them than even a double training session. So that's the most important thing.”
He added: "There is not a long time to work, not a long time to change, to implement a couple of new ideas, of new principles of play. Everything at this time is step by step and the reality is that you don't have this time. We have a game against Leicester next weekend and we have the Premier League in a couple of weeks. We need time, we don't have time. The only solution is to train hard and to train against opposition like today is the most important thing we can do.
So I am happy with the intensity of the game, I am happy with the mistakes we made and I am really happy with the mistakes we made because we work on the mistakes. I am really happy with the good things we did too. I am happy with the spirit, I am happy with the atmosphere but we have to work. So tomorrow is one day off but on Monday we will have a double training session and on Wednesday, we are at Old Trafford for Rooney and for our fans. I will do the same as today, I will train 22 players. I don't care for the result too much, I want to give minutes to everyone and that's good, step by step."
Ibrahimovic went off at halftime as coach Jose Mourinho rang the changes, but starting fullback Valencia was again the architect as Rooney steered home United's second 10 minutes into the second half. When Marcus Rashford was felled in the box three minutes later, Rooney stepped up to fire home the resulting penalty.
Valencia got his third assist when Marouane Fellaini headed home his cross, before substitute Juan Mata stabbed in a fifth to round off a dominant display by United, who open their Premier League campaign away to Bournemouth on Aug. 14.
With inputs from Reuters
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