MANCHESTER: Paul Pogba assumed the responsibility of captain handed to him by Jose Mourinho to help Manchester United get off to a winning start in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Leicester City on Friday.
Less than a month since Pogba scored in the World Cup final to help France lift the trophy, he was thrown straight into action by Mourinho despite just returning to pre-season training this week.
Pogba’s third-minute spot-kick settled the hosts’ nerves as United allayed some of the doom and gloom predicted by Mourinho after failing to land a series of targets before Thursday’s transfer deadline.
Luke Shaw sealed the points seven minutes from time before Jamie Vardy headed home a consolation for the visitors.
After a week in which Pogba has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford, with Barcelona’s interest piqued by the Frenchman’s frosty relationship with Mourinho after he was repeatedly dropped last season, the Portuguese showed his faith in the midfielder by surprisingly handing him the armband.
Mourinho has consistently complained in recent weeks over his lack of backing from the United board and also had a host of injuries and players lacking match sharpness after the World Cup to contend with.
United added only Brazilian midfielder Fred, teenage full-back Diogo Dalot and third-choice goalkeeper Lee Grant to the squad that finished 19 points adrift of champions Manchester City last season.
But the hosts got a much-needed lift after just two minutes when Daniel Amartey was harshly adjudged by referee Andre Mariner to have handled Alexis Sanchez’s shot.
Pogba resisted the pleas of Sanchez to take the spot-kick and after a prolonged stuttering run up, dispatched his shot into the top corner giving Kasper Schmeichel no chance to repeat his penalty saving heroics at the World Cup for Denmark.
United failed to build on that positive start, though, as Leicester went onto enjoy the better of the first-half with £20 million signing James Maddison impressing on debut.
Mourinho was particularly annoyed to miss out on a series of center-back targets, including Leicester’s Harry Maguire who shone for England in Russia.
However, he can still rely on one of the world’s best goalkeepers as David de Gea put his poor World Cup showing behind him with a fine save to prevent Maddison levelling.
Fred had a debut to forget before being replaced 15 minutes from time and was lucky to even last that long when Mariner looked leniently on a kick out at Demarai Gray before half-time.
Both sides’ top scorers from last season, Romelu Lukaku and Vardy, started on the bench after their World Cup exertions and were introduced for the final quarter.
Vardy nearly made a vital contribution as provider when he outmuscled Shaw and picked out Gray in the middle who was denied by another fine save by De Gea.
Lukaku then passed up a golden chance when Schmeichel spread himself well to turn the Belgian’s effort over the bar.
Shaw, who himself has suffered plenty of criticism from Mourinho in the past two seasons, appeared to make the game safe when he fired low into the far corner to spark wild celebrations from his manager.
However, Vardy pulled a goal back deep into stoppage time when he stooped to head in after Ricardo Pereira’s cross came back off the post and United were forced to see out a nervy final few minutes to get off to a winning start.
Paul Pogba leads Man Utd to winning Premier League start
Paul Pogba leads Man Utd to winning Premier League start
- French star's third-minute spot-kick settled the hosts’ nerves
- Luke Shaw sealed the points seven minutes from time before Jamie Vardy headed home a consolation
Own goal enough for Al-Ahli as Matchday 24 win keeps pressure on Al-Nassr
- Al-Ahli eke out 1-0 win over Al-Riyadh to keep pressure on Al-Nassr
- Milan Borjan own goal separated the sides at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium
RIYADH: Matchday 24 of the Saudi Pro League kicked off on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the delayed Matchday 10. With the FIFA Arab Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and FIFA World Cup sandwiching the 2025/26 campaign, resting periods have been few and far between outside the international breaks.
With fixtures coming thick and fast, Al-Ahli opted to rest Riyad Mahrez and Enzo Millot for their clash with Al-Riyadh in the capital. Ramadan has further challenged the league schedule, with Matthias Jaissle’s side only arriving in Riyadh at 5:30pm — just hours before kick-off.
With their previous outing against Damac still dominating conversation, Jaissle was keen to ensure his players did not fall into the same trap — namely, being caught off guard by an opponent’s unexpectedly proactive style.
To his relief, Al-Ahli were largely in control this time. Yet the absence of Mahrez limited their creative spark. Relying heavily on Wenderson Galeno down the left, Al-Riyadh did well to crowd the Brazilian and deny him space to operate.
The bane of any expansive side is a compact 5-4-1, and that is precisely how Al-Riyadh’s recently appointed Brazilian manager Mauricio Dulac set his team up. A long-time assistant to former Al-Riyadh coach Odair Hellmann, this marks Dulac’s first managerial role.
Al-Ahli’s attacking routes were severely restricted throughout the first half. Al-Riyadh denied them the opportunity to press high, Mahrez’s trademark diagonals were absent, and finding Ivan Toney in the six-yard box proved a difficult task.
On the rare occasions the visitors broke the defensive line, Milan Borjan stood firm in goal — there was no getting past the Canadian.
That was until first-half stoppage time. Al-Ahli had one more weapon in their arsenal: set-pieces. A lofted delivery from Galeno’s free-kick met the head of Roger Ibañez, who nodded the ball towards goal. Borjan pushed it away, but it was too late — the ball crossed the line.
VAR intervened within seconds. Ibañez was a shoulder offside, and the opener was chalked off. It was a notable twist, particulary as the simultaneous fixture between Al-Fateh and Damac in Al-Ahsa featured a celebration aimed squarely at Al-Ahli and VAR.
Earlier in the week, Damac equalised late against Al-Ahli via Yakou Méïté, only for the goal to be overturned. Méïté reacted angrily and lashed out at referees, but Al-Ahli escaped with the three points. Méïté followed up with a goal against Al-Fateh, and celebrated by mimicking the referee’s VAR signal.
Back in Riyadh, Al-Ahli returned for the second half with renewed intensity. Zakaria Hawsawi grew more adventurous from left-back, threading lofted balls over the Al-Riyadh defence.
In the 53rd minute, he found Toney behind the last defender, but the Englishman’s volley was adeptly saved by Borjan. Five minutes later, Galeno latched onto Hawsawi’s cross and thought he had broken the deadlock — only for the linesman’s flag to rise once again.
Al-Ahli pushed, but as time ticked away, it seemed the coveted winner would elude them. However, once again, set pieces proved decisive.
In the 75th minute, a corner from Saleh Abu Al-Shamat was parried by Borjan, only for his effort to be bundled into his own net, sending the travelling supporters into a frenzy.
After last week’s scare, Al-Ahli knew they had to finish the job. Cue Ibañez, who surged forward from deep before slipping the ball through to Toney to seal the game with what would have been his 24th goal of the season. The run itself deserved a goal, but Toney was flagged inches offside.
Despite another difficult outing, Al-Ahli did enough to secure a clean sheet and grind out a 1-0 victory to move top on 59 points — one ahead of Al-Nassr, who are yet to play this weekend.
Elsewhere, Méïté’s equaliser was later cancelled out by a 77th-minute Mourad Batna penalty, in a match that saw fans commemorate him for surpassing 100 goal contributions with Al-Fateh.
Batna had earlier missed from the spot to the frustation of the home fans, but Al-Fateh’s undefeated streak against Damac at home remains intact as the encounter ended 1-1.
Saudi Pro League action resumes on Friday, with Al-Hazem hosting Al-Ettifaq, Al-Ittihad welcoming Al-Khaleej, and one of Riyadh’s top derbies in Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal. All games kick-off at 10:00pm, in the league’s unified Ramadan schedule.
