Ibrahimovic seals Europa victory for United
Inter Milan suffer more Europa League woe
>> MADRID: Wayne Rooney finally made a difference for Manchester United this season, setting up Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal two minutes after being summoned off the bench to help them beat Ukraine’s Zorya Luhansk 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.
Inter Milan fell 3-1 at Sparta Prague to lose their second in a row in the European competition, while Mario Balotelli scored again but couldn’t prevent Nice from losing at Russian side Krasnodar 5-2. The Italian striker was substituted at half-time with an apparent knee injury.
There was a mixed reaction at Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho sent in the much-criticised Rooney in the 67th minute, but his misfired shot bounced to the far post, where Ibrahimovic nodded in.
Rooney was in good position inside the area after a cross from the right flank, but the ball hit off his knee as he attempted a shot, going across the area toward Ibrahimovic.
“We deserved to win but it was difficult,’’ Mourinho said.
“They were very well organised defensively as we expected. We had to play, I won’t say amazingly well because we didn’t, but we had to play well to win.’’
Mourinho didn’t start Rooney after saying he wanted to protect his captain from a media backlash if he had another poor performance.
It was a crucial win for United, who were coming off a 1-0 loss at Feyenoord in its Europa League opener. The English side moved off the bottom of Group A. Turkey’s Fenerbahce, who defeated Feyenoord 1-0 at home, led by a point after two matches.
United controlled possession against Zorya but created very few scoring chances, with the best early on when Marcus Rashford struck the crossbar.
ROMA 4 ASTRA 0
Two days after his 40th birthday, captain Francesco Totti set up three of Roma’s goals as they romped past Romanian outfit Astra 4-0.
The sublime skills of the midfielder saw first-half free-kicks turned into goals as first Kevin Strootman tapped in at the far post on 15, and while Totti’s 45th-minute shot was pushed onto the bar by the goalkeeper, Fazio was on hand to head home the rebound.
After an own goal, shortly after the restart, a clever lob into the area on 55 minutes from Totti enabled Mohamed Salah to rush in complete a 4-0 victory.
Roma now go top of Group E on goal difference after draw 1-1 with Viktoria Plzen two weeks ago.
SPARTA 3 INTER 1
Inter Milan’s opening loss to Hapoel Beer-Sheva became less shocking when they fell at Sparta Prague and dropped to last in Group K.
Three-time champions, Inter had l ost f our straight i n European competitions.
They arrived boosted by a comefrom-behind win over Juventus in Serie A, but produced another poor performance in European competition at Generali Arena.
“We weren’t focused,’’ Inter coach Frank de Boer said.
“We made too many mistakes, giving easy balls to our opponents. We need to get a lot better in that regard, otherwise we’re going to find every match very difficult.’’
Forward Vaclav Kadlec scored twice in the first half for Sparta, who moved to second place in the group. Hapoel and Southampton, who drew 0-0 in Israel, lead by one point. Inter have yet to earn a point.
Striker Rodrigo Palacio pulled Inter back into the game with a goal in the 71st minute, but defender Mario Holek sealed the victory for the hosts just a minute after Inter defender Andrea Ranocchia was sent off in the 75th for a second yellow card.