Zlatan Ibrahimovic took just over an hour to star for new club Manchester United as he showed his class against Bournemouth
The Swede rose to occasion with a superb 25-yard drive into the bottom corner to announce his arrival
BEFORE the game the confident Swede said: “I've been looking forward to the first match for weeks now”.
But we had to wait over an hour to see it for ourselves.
For 60 minutes he played on the periphery as United benefited from a Bournemouth blunder and a slice of luck. Then he stepped up to the plate and cleaned up with a screamer.
If the first hour laid down a marker, it’s unlikely Zlatan will be salivating over the prospect of a long and punishing season alongside some of these struggling United players.
Bournemouth fans feared the flat-track bully would dominate their defence after his goal at Wembley against Leicester in the Community Shield. But, barring the odd classy flick, he did not dominate anyone until his brilliant goal - that is his magic.
The prolific trophy collector had all the TV cameras focused on him in the final seconds of the build-up which took the pressure and attention off of captain Wayne Rooney.
The legend, turned self-proclaimed God, could not find his first touch at the Vitality stadium early on. He tried to chest a pass into the path of Marouane Fellaini – who would have struggled to control a perfect ball – but it went astray and cost the visitors possession.
The mixed martial artist is not afraid to mix it, even at the age of 34. Bournemouth right-back Adam Smith felt the full force of the forward as he was closed down and bundled over after pinging the ball down the line.
Even when he got a whack of his own in the first half he soon dusted himself down and was back on his feet. Match the Day host and part-time semi-nude model Gary Lineker tweeted: “Don’t worry Ibrahimovic doesn’t bleed”.
After 25 boring minutes the deep-thinker drifted out to the right wing to try and find some inspiration – and the ball. And when that failed he fell even deeper back into United’s already clustered midfield. Bournemouth’s gameplan and work-rate serving him a timely reminded that this is not Ligue 1 where you can win 8-0 against Troyes every other week.
The former Barcelona striker did very little in the first half. The main positive the owner of the new A-Z fashion brand could take from the afternoon is discovering the type of stitching in Simon Francis’ pocket, where he spent the opening 45 minutes.
After the break, with United sitting on a 1-0 lead - he showed off his talent with an audacious flick into Rooney who should have scored but instead was denied by Artur Boruc in the Cherries goal.
But he had no part to play when United doubled their lead and killed off the game as Martial scuffed a shot into the ground that Rooney nodded in.
Just after the hour United got a free-kick 20-yards from goal that Rooney looked desperate to take but it was the new man that grabbed the ball and took aim with his right foot, only for Boruc to produce a great save to his top-right corner.
RELATED STORIES
But seconds later, after an hour of forgettable football, he produced that trademark flash of brilliance. Anthony Martial wriggled through a handful of challenges and teed up the master to fire home from long range.
To add to his soaring reputation he saluted the travelling United fans who had got their money’s worth from the No9 again.
Ibra certainly is the gift that keeps on giving, you just have to wait a while.