The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Off the bench, Rooney makes difference
Man United edge past Zorya after striker comes on as 2nd-half substitute and sets up Ibrahimovic's goal
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 its 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 halftime with an apparent knee injury. There was mixed reaction at Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho sent in the much-criticized 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 organized 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, which was 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, which 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.
October ‘poisoned gift’
Mourinho described next month's fixture list as a "poisoned gift". After the international break, United travel to Liverpool on October 17, host Turkish club Fenerbahce in the Europa League three days later before travelling to Chelsea for a league fixture on October 23.
"Well, we could play Liverpool on the Saturday, we could play Liverpool on the Sunday. We play Liverpool on the Monday," Mourinho said. "We don't have the best conditions because we play against two top Premier League teams who don't have European competition. We have this poisoned gift with playing on the Monday which gives us a very difficult situation."
When asked if he tried to move United's top flight clash with Liverpool back from Monday, Mourinho said: "I think it's impossible, the poisoned gift is already there. We just have to play Monday, Thursday and then the Sunday. "But before that we have Stoke, so let us concentrate on Stoke because it is another poisoned gift because Stoke is not what the table says," he added.
Sparta shock Inter
Inter Milan's opening loss to Hapoel Beersheva became less shocking when it fell at Sparta Prague and dropped to last in Group K. Athree-timechampionshavelostfourstraight in European competitions. It arrived boosted by a come-from-behind win over Juventus in Serie A, but produced another poor performance in European competition at Generali Arena."weweren'tfocused,"intercoachfrank de Boer said. "We made too many mistakes, givingeasyballstoouropponents.weneedto 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, which moved to second place in the group. Hapoel and Southampton, which drew 0-0 in Israel, lead by one point. Inter has yet to earn a point.