AP, Madrid :
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.
Inter Milan’s opening loss to Hapoel Beer-Sheva became less shocking when it fell at Sparta Prague and dropped to last in Group K.
A three-time champion, Inter has lost four straight 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.
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.
Inter Milan’s opening loss to Hapoel Beer-Sheva became less shocking when it fell at Sparta Prague and dropped to last in Group K.
A three-time champion, Inter has lost four straight 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.
