ZLAT’S KNF GOOD
Now next prize in Jose sights is new deal for hero Ibra
JOSE MOURINHO wants Manchester United fans to camp outside Wembley hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s house to stop him leaving the club.
Two-goal Ibrahimovic’s late winner left Southampton heartbroken and earned Mourinho his first trophy as United boss.
But the 35-year-old Swede has yet to sign a new contract at Old Trafford amid fears he could quit if United fail to qualify for the Champions League.
Mourinho said: “I never back a player to sign a contract. But, if needed, I think maybe United fans can go to the door of his house and stay there all night.
“We all want it – we all believe he is going to stay with us one more season.”
Ibrahimovic, who is out of contract this summer, and Jesse Lingard put United 2-0 up before Saints hit back with two goals from Manolo Gabbiadini.
But United’s talisman hit an 87th-minute winner to take his goal tally to 26 for the
FAB GABB: Pages 44-45
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC proved himself king of the cup finals once again yesterday.
The sensational Swede grabbed a double at Wembley to secure the first of three trophies Manchester United can win this season.
It was the fifth successive domestic cup final the 35-year-old has scored in, including four for Paris St-Germain.
If they make it to the FA Cup final only a madman would bet against his cups continuing to runneth over.
Argued
Three days before that, on May 24, there could be even more adulation for the cockiest player on the planet with the Europa League climax in Stockholm, Sweden, the country of his birth.
But this showpiece was very much a tale of two strikers, with a poor linesman’s decision denying Southampton a first major trophy in 41 years and their own excellent striker, Manolo Gabbiadini, a hat-trick.
No-one could have argued had Claude Puel’s men won and they showed Jose Mourinho’s United are still a work in progress with the way they constantly troubled them.
As it was an 87th-minute breakaway, after sub Shane Long was just a whisker from turning in a Ryan Bertrand cross, saw the unmarked Ibrahimovic head home a cross from Ander Herrera to snatch it.
This EFL final, though, would have been a different story were it not for one Stuart Burt.
The linesman – who ruled a goal from Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen offside two years ago even though the centre-back started his run in his own half – put the flag up again in the 12th minute when Gabbiadini flicked home.
But the hitman, signed last month from Napoli for £14.5m, was not offside as he pounced to sweep in a Cedric Soares low cross.
Bertrand, who was ahead of the Italian but behind the striker when the ball was played in, was not interfering with play.
It shook Saints and United went ahead in the 19th minute after Oriel Romeu brought down Herrera close to 30 yards out.
Ibrahimovic fancied his chances and he bent his effort in to the right of giant keeper Fraser Forster, who ought to have done better.
United went two up in the 38th minute. After an