Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a hat-trick as Manchester United opened up a commanding Europa League last-32 lead against Saint-Etienne.<\/p>\n
Ibrahimovic’s deflected free-kick wrong-footed goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier and dribbled over the line for the opener, and he tapped home from close range after good work from Marcus Rashford, as well as adding a late penalty.<\/p>\n
Saint-Etienne caused United problems on the break in the first 45 minutes, particularly with Romain Hamouma’s pace, while Henri Saivet and Nolan Roux both clipped efforts narrowly off target.<\/p>\n
Ruffier’s double save denied Juan Mata and Anthony Martial forced the visiting goalkeeper into sharp saves, while Paul Pogba headed against the crossbar from close range.<\/p>\n
The two sides meet for the second leg on Wednesday, 22 February (kick-off 17:00 GMT).<\/p>\n
There were question marks over the signing of veteran striker Ibrahimovic on a free transfer from Paris St-Germain in the summer, but the Swede has responded by taking his tally to 23 for the season.<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old former Juventus, Barcelona and AC Milan man has now netted 17 career hat-tricks. It was his first since joining United, his second in European competition and his third against Saint-Etienne.<\/p>\n
“Every time I have played against Saint-Etienne, with hard work there has been a couple of goals,” Ibrahimovic said after the game. “I have scored a couple of goals tonight and hopefully I can do the same next week.”<\/p>\n
The Ligue 1 side will be pleased to see the back of Ibrahimovic when he retires having scored 17 times against them during his career.<\/p>\n
Ibrahimovic has 11 titles and three domestic cups to his name, but a major European trophy remains missing from his illustrious CV.<\/p>\n
Like Ibrahimovic, United have never won this competition, but the result keeps alive their hopes of a cup treble this season. They face Blackburn in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday and Southampton in the EFL Cup final the following week.<\/p>\n
In his first season at Old Trafford, Jose Mourinho’s side are just two points off a Champions League spot in the league, but triumph in the Europa League would give them an automatic passage through to Europe’s elite club competition.<\/p>\n
Against Saint-Etienne, the Red Devils tested Ruffier on numerous occasions but he was left floundering for the first goal, while his parry into the danger area allowed the second.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the Ligue 1 side carved United’s backline open with ease at times, with defender Eric Bailly looking particularly suspect, but they failed to work goalkeeper Sergio Romero into a single save with their 14 shots.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a hat-trick as Manchester United opened up a commanding Europa League last-32 lead against Saint-Etienne. Ibrahimovic’s deflected free-kick wrong-footed goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier and dribbled over the line for the opener, and he tapped home from close range after good work from Marcus Rashford, as well as adding a late penalty. Saint-Etienne caused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[1239,104,4165,4166],"yoast_head":"\n