Bharath Rammr
Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued his impressive form after scoring the second goal in the Europa League group match against Zorya. The 2-0 win for Manchester United is the third successive success in the cup competitions for the Red Devils. Even though they have found it hard to replicate this form in the Premier League, it is a night when the players can celebrate reaching the knockout stages of the Europa League with relative comfort.
United may have failed to finish as group winners, but José Mourinho will be happier with qualification considering the turbulent period the club has been going through in the last few weeks.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has been one of the big enigmas this season, came up with the opening goal. His finish and the chance created were all down to his brilliance. Yet, he has been used very marginally by José Mourinho and it is one of the big criticisms levelled at the Portuguese manager.
Just when it seemed that United were unable to kill the game with the score at 1-0 going into the final five minutes, Zlatan Ibrahimovic came up with the killer goal that the club has been searching for a number of games over the last few weeks. It was the striker’s seventh goal in the last six matches, and he is certainly back on track. Ibrahimovic went through a terrible run of form during October when he was simply unable to finish even simple chances. Now, though, he is clearly back to his best and Ibrahimovic marked his good form with a great gesture at the end of the match.
As the cameras focused on Ibrahimovic after the end of the game, the pitch witnessed the invasion of a young fan who was keen to meet his superstar. The Swedish striker responded by giving the young fan his jersey. There was a period when Ibrahimovic was not considered as one of the top strikers by the English media. This ideology has certainly changed over the last five years, as the striker has gone from winning league titles after league titles in major countries like Spain, Italy, and France.
Ibrahimovic is searching for yet another league title in a new country, but United seem well of pace with regard to the title this season. Jose Mourinho recently conceded that the possibility of winning the title may have evaporated for the campaign after the 1-1 draw with Everton.
Mourinho’s first task will be to transfer this form in cup competitions to the Premier League, as the Red Devils welcome Tottenham at the Old Trafford this weekend.
