MANCHESTER UNITED 2 LEICESTER CITY 1

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM LONDON

Manchester United started a new era under Jose Mourinho by beating the Premier League Champions Leicester City 2-1 to win the 2016 Community Shield. United who had fallen so far down the pecking order and did not even qualify for the Champions League this season will be looking to get back to the top of the summit. Leicester on the other hand probably cannot quite believe what has happened to them. As one approached Wembley Way the fans chanted “we know what we know what we are. Champions of England we know what we are.”  They played Barcelona and Manchester United within a space of five days!  This a side two season ago was in danger of being relegated.  

If anyone thinks Leicester are just going to disappear due to the big money signings other teams have made then they should think again.  Although they lost N’golo Kante to Chelsea they may have made an astute  signing Nigerian International winger Ahmed Musa who has pace and showed enough today to suggest that he is capable of winning games for them on his own.

The game came to life in the 18^th minute as Leicester put some intricate passes together after Jamie Vardy burst through the middle. The ball fell to Shinji Okazaki whose shot went just wide via a deflection.    Just after the half hour mark Jesse Lingard got the ball just inside the Leicester half and skipped past four defenders before calmly slotting the ball past Kasper Schmeichel to give United the lead. Make that two goals in two appearances for Lingard at Wembley for United as he scored the winner for United last season in the FA Cup final.

Seven minutes after the break Leicester were level.  Marouane Fellaini ran back to cut out a pass but his back pass to David De Gea was short, Jamie Vardy pounced and rounded the keeper before slotting the ball into the empty net to bring the foxes level.  Jose Mourinho who is a perfectionist would have been disappointed with the soft goal given away.

Lingard’s afternoon ended prematurely due to an earlier knock, which he simply could not shake off.  United had a chance to regain the lead in the 68^th minute as Fellaini was played in but instead of going for goal he passed back to Rooney whose shot was comfortably gathered by Schmeichel.

With 8 minutes left, second half substitute  Musa had a chance to score but his back header was just over the bar.

Moments later Antonio Valencia who had been exceptional down the right wing got the ball and skipped past a defender before dinking the ball to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was waiting on the back post, which he headed past Schmeichel as time stood still to give United the lead for a second time.  Leicester were still trying to equalize though this was just a Community Shield as Schmeichel came up for a succession of corners. If anyone thought this Leicester side would lack motivation this season that was quickly dispelled today in the closing stages.

Manchester United’s best player today probably was Ivorian International Eric Bailly who looked rock solid at the back and was confident as he brought the ball out of the defence like Rio Ferdinand used to.  With the imminent arrival of Paul Pogba Manchester United will challenge for honours next season.

Mourinho said:” Manchester is the habitat that could bring Pogba up to the level he needs to be. He will come because he knows the club and want to be part of the Manchester United project. I just know he is going to be a big player. I think any player around the world would be proud to be part of this big club.”

“I think today you could see in the between the 50^th and 75 minute I could see a team in difficulty but wants to win. Today I saw a team very compact and not playing zonal. With the second goal maybe Valencia passes back instead of crossing the ball” said Mourinho.

On his ambition he said: “My ambition is a stupid ambition. We have to win against Bournemouth. We want to win every game. We have to improve improve and improve. We try to win.

The Leicester Manager Claudio Ranieri said: “ I am very pleased with the game. When you have Zlatan Ibrahimovic you know he does not touch many goals but with one shot he scores. I enjoy the same team as last season. Only the result was against us. I always ask the players give me a performance and they did. My target again this season in 40 points and then we will see. “