Manchester United beat Bournemouth 3-1 to give Jose Mourinho club PL debut win
- Aug 14, 2016
- 2 min read
Jose Mourinho's first game managing Manchester United was nothing short of exceptional.
Goals from Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, secured a win in their 2016-17 Premier League campaign opener against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Adam Smith scored the only goal for Bournemouth, who will be quite disappointed by losing their 2016-17 Premier League opener on their home soil.
Manchester United were the overall stronger side in the first half. But it took a defensive collapse from Bournemouth for Juan Mata to open the scoring for United.
Simon Francis played a poor pass back to goalkeeper Artur Boruc in the 40th minute, allowing Mata to take advantage and get a shot on goal. Boruc made the initial save, but the ball then bounced off of the leg of Francis to find its way back to Mata, who had no problem scoring on the wide-open net.
Despite all previous encounters between Mourinho and Mata, the midfielder provided Mourinho with the first goal of his reign at United. Mata's goal may have boosted his confidence after Mourinho humiliated the Spaniard in the Community Shield clash against Leicester City, when he brought Mata on in the second half as a substitute, only to take him off again in stoppage time.
United doubled their lead when a mishit from Anthony Martial who attempted a one-time a volley from Antonio Valencia's long cross. He didn't get his effort on goal, putting his shot into the ground, but the ball bounced off the grass and found Wayne Rooney, who headed the ball across the face of goal.
Rooney is now only three goals behind Manchester United Legend Sir Bobby Charlton as Manchester United's all-time leading goalscorer, via ESPN Stats & Info.
Ibrahimovic nearly gave United a third goal when his outstanding free-kick drew a great diving save from Boruc.
Just minutes later, Ibrahimovic was left alone from 30 yards out in the 64th minute. The Swedish striker took full advantage and ripped a low shot that escaped the reach of Boruc and into the bottom corner.Just when some people marked Bournemouth out of the competition, Lewis Grabban played a lovely ball into Adam Smith inside the box in the 69th minute. Smith, with his weaker left foot and let go a screamer, flying beyond David De Gea into the right side of the post.
United made a great start to their 2016-17 campaign, who have a point to prove after finishing 5th in the Premier League last season.
The club's load of attacking talent was on full display in a convincing win over the Cherries today.
United should not have any problem finding the back of the net. Despite the attacking options featured in today's game, new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan was a second-half substitute, and young players like Marcus Rashford, Memphis Depay and Jesse Lingard were not introduced into the game. And lastly, superstar signing Paul Pogba has yet to make his debut.
The 3-1 finish was perhaps a bit rough for Bournemouth, though the Red Devils were clearly the superior side, as they will need to be all season if they want to make a decent title-challenging campaign.
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