Ekun Samuel, 14 August 2016
Juan Mata who came from the bench and later again substituted by Jose Mourinho in last Sunday Community Shield Cup against League Champions Leicester which Man United won 2-1. Has shone in the victory of Manchester United over Bournemouth.
Mourinho then later apologised for bringing Mata out again and explained the situation due to tactical reasons. Many already have been speculating the fact Juan Mata may not be preferred by Jose once more, due to his treatment of Juan Mata at Chelsea.
But fortunately for Mata, not only did he start today, he got the opening goal for Man United. A game which before the goal was short of goal opportunities. Juan Mata broke the deadlock as he capitalised on Francis Simon erroneous mistake with a callous back pass and Juan was alert to charge towards the ball and netted the opener in the 40th minute. Arrays of goals followed by a header from Wayne Rooney in the 59th minute and 64th minute goal from Ibracadabra, 25 yards clean finish. The game ended 3-1 to Manchester United as they took off to a bright start with new recruit Eric Bailly named as the “Man of the match”.
Adam Smiths consolation goal from the Cherries was not enough for them to fight back and get into the game.
Jose Mourinho was full of praise for his main point Man Zlatan and said in the post match conference; “Look, the first thing I can tell you is that, at his table for breakfast and for meals, he is surrounded by the young ones, the kids. Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford — these are the guys who are with him at the table. He knows what he can be for them.
“But, for the team, you have to forget the passport, that he is 34 years old. The body and mentality are not those of a 34-year-old guy. He's at the top of his qualities.”