Ibrahimovic ‘like Benjamin Button’
Wood in top team
Zlatan Ibrahimovic likened himself to fictional hero Benjamin Button after leading Manchester United to a 3-0 win over Sunderland to keep their European Champions League hopes alive.
The 35-year-old Swede scored his 17th goal of the English Premier League season yesterday and later told reporters: ‘‘I feel like Benjamin Button - I was born old but I will die young.
‘‘I train hard and I keep focussing. I believe in what I do and I just play my game and try to enjoy it.
‘‘It seems the older I get the more intelligent I get. Because of course you can’t move the same as five, ten or 15 years ago,’’ said Ibrahimovic, who believed he was ‘‘getting better and better’’.
Benjamin Button, a fictional character created by celebrated American writer F Scott Fitzgerald, was born with the physical characteristics of an elderly man and died as an infant boy. Fitzgerald’s short story was adapted into a 2008 movie - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - starring Brad Pitt.
Ibrahimovic was in the starring role on a different stage - at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.
After 30 minutes, Manchester United appeared in danger of meandering its way to another disappointing result. Thankfully for manager Jose Mourinho, Ibrahimovic had other ideas.
The Swedish forward demanded the ball be played to him on the edge of the penalty area, and then evaded the attempts of two Sunderland defenders to halt his progress before sending an unstoppable strike into the far bottom corner.
``You need these players sometimes to make it and normally every top team has a couple of them that can make a difference. Zlatan did that with the goal,’’ Mourinho said.
After Ibrahimovic’s moment of inspiration, the result was never in doubt and a red card for Sebastian Larsson left space for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and substitute Marcus Rashford to seal the points for United.
With the league’s top four all having won on Saturday, the victory ensured United kept pace in the race for Champions League qualification as it moved above Arsenal into fifth and within four points of fourth-place Manchester City, which has played one more game.
Unlike their rivals, United can still qualify for next season’s Champions League by winning the Europa League. It resumes its campaign with a quarterfinal first leg in Belgium against Anderlecht on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku’s double ensured Craig Shakespeare’s perfect record as Leicester manager was ended at Goodison Park.
The champions had won five consecutive league games after sacking Claudio Ranieri in February following a run of results that left it just above the relegation zone.
But with Thursday’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg in mind, Shakespeare made five changes to his starting lineup, resulting in a lack of cohesion that Everton wasted no time in exploiting. All Whites striker Chris Wood may have missed out on the big prize, but he did get some consolation.
He was up for the English Championship’s player of the season award yesterday, but that went to Anthony Knockaert, who plays for league leaders Brighton and Hove Albion.
He was, however, named in the English Football League team of the season, following on from his selection in the Championship team of the season last month.
The recognition came as he nears the end of a campaign where he has starred for Leeds United, scoring 24 goals in 39 league matches and playing a key role in their push for promotion to the Premier League.
Leeds currently sit fifth in the Championship ladder, with five games to play, and are on track for a spot in the promotion playoffs, which are contested by the teams placed third to sixth.
There were four goals in the opening 23 minutes, with teenager Tom Davies giving Everton the lead after just 30 seconds. Islam Slimani and Marc Albrighton hit back for the champions, only for Lukaku’s strikes either side of a Phil Jagielka header to put Everton out of reach.
Everton has now won seven consecutive Premier League home games, all of which Lukaku has scored in.