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 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.
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.
The two sides meet for the second leg on Wednesday, 22 February.
here 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.
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.
“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.”
Pogba brothers do battle:
The world’s most expensive player, Paul Pogba, was up against his brother Florentin, who was signed by the French side for 500,000 euros in 2012.
Mother Yeo and third brother Mathias watched from the stands as the two shared a warm embrace before kick-off, with the elder sibling Florentin sporting a number 19 on one side of his head and his brother’s six on the other.
“It is something very magical, it does not happen every day and I really enjoyed playing against my brother,” said the United player.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho: “Concentration was not there in the first half. We started making dangerous mistakes at the back, were slow in the build-up and had no movement in attack. We were lucky to be winning at half-time.
“In the second half the story changed. We were faster. It wasn’t the perfect game because we still lost the ball too often but it was better. The tie is not over but it is a good result.”
