Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores stunning overhead goal as Manchester United win 5-2 over Galatasaray
Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened his Manchester United account with a stunning bicycle kick as his new club beat Turkish side Galatasaray 5-2 in Gothenburg on Saturday.
A club debut for Ibrahimovic in his home country was already the headline story of the day, but Zlatan delivered for his watching fans with an acrobatic opening goal after just four minutes at the Ullevi Stadium.
Galatasaray struggled to get going in the opening minutes of the game but equalised with their very first chance of the match as Sinan Gumus headed in Wesley Sneijder’s excellent free-kick cross on 22 minutes.
The lively Bruma scored a classy second from the edge of the box (40) to give the Turkish club a halftime lead, but the game was turned on its head after the break.
Wayne Rooney’s clever flicked finish (55) levelled the affair, and it was Rooney finding the net for a second time three minutes later after Marcus Rashford had won a penalty at the end of a sparkling run.
Stunned by the quick turnaround, Gala were dealt a knockout blow when Marouane Fellaini looped a top-class header over the goalkeeper from a floated Antonio Valencia cross on 62 minutes.
And United got better and better as the game went on, with Juan Mata providing the cherry on top with a poked finish at the end of a sublime team move on 74 minutes.
The win will give Jose Mourinho’s side plenty of confidence ahead of next weekend’s FA Community Shield game against Premier League champions Leicester City at Wembley.
The silky football on show from United’s substitutes in the second half threatened to overshadow the main event, but Ibrahimovic’s debut will live long in the memory.
Valencia’s floated cross from the right sat nicely for Zlatan and, even though he did not catch his spectacular shot flush, he still picked out the bottom corner on the second bounce for his first goal in Manchester United colours.
United’s new-look attack struggled to click for much of the rest of the first half, but Mourinho made five changes at halftime, with only Rooney surviving from the front six.
Rashford was one of those introduced, and the youngster’s sparkling second-half display will surely have forced him into Mourinho’s first-team plans for the start of the season.
Rashford caused chaos in the Galatasaray defence and played a role in the build-up to Rooney’s equaliser before producing a stunning run that lured the goalkeeper into a panicky foul.
Fellaini’s floated header gave United some breathing room and they really turned on the style in the last 20 minutes, with Mata heavily involved as the Gothenburg crowd were treated to a brilliant display of attacking football on a balmy summer’s evening.
