Jose Mourinho got his Manchester United tenure off to a dream start thanks to a comfortable 3-1 success away to Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.
It was a man who the Portuguese tactician has had a fraught relationship with in the past, Juan Mata, who got the first goal of Mourinho’s Premier League era by capitalising on a first half error.
Goals from Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic followed in the second 45 minutes before a fine Adam Smith goal ensured the Cherries did manage a consolation.
On a sunny afternoon on the south coast, it was the visitors who carved out the better openings of a rather tentative first half, with Wayne Rooney drawing a comfortable save out of Artur Boruc and Anthony Martial flashing a strike off target.
With defences controlling the opening half, it was no surprise that chances were at a premium and it took a mistake at the back to help the Red Devils take the lead shortly before the break.
A poor Simon Francis back pass was pounced upon by Mata and although Boruc did well to deny the Spaniard, the rebound came back off Francis before falling kindly for the ex-Chelsea man to roll the ball home.
Six minutes after the break, their lead should have been doubled when a typically brilliant Ibrahimovic sent Rooney through on goal but Boruc denied the Englishman from close range.
However, he wouldn’t be denied for long and after a miscued Martial strike found its way into Rooney’s path, he expertly directed a header beyond the former Fiorentina goalkeeper.
Five minutes later, he was beaten again as Ibrahimovic grabbed his second goal in English football with a fantastic arrowed strike from range directly into the bottom corner.
Smith did pop up shortly afterwards with a sublime goal for Bournemouth when he blasted beyond David de Gea with his left foot but it was a rare blot on the copybook on a successful afternoon’s work for the Red Devils.
