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The day's early kick off saw an eventful fixture at Old Trafford between EFL Cup winners Manchester United and a team that have struggled in the league since the new year, Bournemouth. The visitors played the second half with ten men and United missed a penalty, resulting in a 1-1 scoreline, which Zlatan Ibrahimovic has taken the blame for.Â
United were big favourites to win this against a Bournemouth side in poor form, and the game started as expected, with Marcus Rojo giving the Red Devils the lead after 23 minutes. Phil Jones brought down Marc Pugh in the United area five minutes before half time, giving Bournemouth a chance to equalise from the penalty spot. Josh King took that opportunity, as he finished emphatically from twelve yards.Â
Then, the first of two big incidents occurred. When Ibrahimovic was on the floor after a tackle, Tyrone Mings hurdled the Swede but planted his studs on the head of the United striker. Deliberate or not, only he will know. Ibrahimovic clearly thought it was deliberate, as moments later, with both of those players jumping for a header, Ibrahimovic appeared to direct an elbow into the face of Mings. Ibrahimovic claimed that Mings jumped into his elbow, and both players went unpunished. However, Bournemouth's Andrew Surman was incensed by the incident, and was shown his second yellow card for pushing Ibrahimovic to the ground.Â
With Bournemouth expected to buckle with ten men in the second half, United struggled to find a winning goal. With twenty minutes to go, the Manchester team were awarded a penalty, and a real opportunity to seal a win which would have seen them move temporarily into the top four. Ibrahimovic stepped up, but it was saved by Artur Boruc.Â
Speaking after the game, Ibrahimovic said "I take full responsibility. I didn't score and we didn't win. We are very disappointed and we should have won. I take the blame. I missed the penalty."
Ibrahimovic and Mings will now have to wait and see if they are dealt a punishment for their conduct in the match. Â
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Written by Matt Button
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