Jose Mourinho says that he and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not go crying to media in respect to the incidents that unfolded on Saturday against Bournemouth.
It was the same old story for Manchester United at home this season as they dominated proceedings from start to end at the Theatre of Dreams, but ended up with a satisfactory scoreline that did very little to justify their performance on the day.
Knowing that a win would lift them up off the cursed 6th spot and momentarily into the top 4, the Red Devils were on the front foot from the opening whistle and had a number of chances in the first ten minutes of the contest.
As many keepers in the past have hit their pinnacle at Old Trafford, Bournemouth stopper Artur Boruc put in arguably his performance of the season as his heroics helped the Cherries pick up their first ever point at Old Trafford.
The home side opened the scoring through a surprising source, as defender Marcos Rojo saw himself on the receiving end of well-drilled cross from Antonio Valencia. The Argentine defender was unmarked in the Bournemouth penalty area and coolly slotted home to give United a deserved lead.
However, their advantage was short-lived as former Manchester United youngster Joshua King finished off a penalty with aplomb after Phil Jones gave away a needless penalty in the 39th minute.
It seemed like the half was ending without any further talking points, but on the stroke of 45 minutes, chaos ensued in Manchester. Cherries defender Tyrone Mings challenged Wayne Rooney and fairly won the ball, but his follow through saw him step on the head of Red Devils forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
A minute later, the Swede got his revenge as he elbowed the centre-back when the duo contested for a corner. This altercation saw Bournemouth captain Andrew Surman push Ibrahimovic in the chest, which warranted a second yellow card, and referee Kevin Friend handed the Englishman his marching orders.
When asked about how Ibrahimovic reacted to this situation, Mourinho said, according to the BBC:
“Zlatan is a big man. We are from that generation of street football and football for big guys. We are not the kind of generation who goes to the media and cries about what happened.
“What counts is the result. Nothing else matters for us.”
The result saw United remain in sixth place, and are now one point behind Arsenal and three behind Manchester City and Liverpool. A top four finish for any of the aforementioned teams in far from a foregone conclusion, and Mourinho believes his side will challenge for a Champions League spot until the very end.
According to the club’s official website, he said:
“Are we dead in relation to the top four? No. We are not dead – there are matches to play, points to win, points to lose, points to fight for – but the reality is we are losing too many points at home.
“If you look at the points we’ve lost at home – all the matches where we draw – if you accumulate these points, you’re thinking about 10 or 12 and, with these points we wouldn’t just be speaking about the top four – we’d be speaking about the top two or the top one.”