Manchester United and Bournemouth drew 1-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday, March 4. Here are all the highlights from the match.
Manchester United and Bournemouth played out a surprisingly eventful 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Saturday — surprising not so much because of the teams involved, but because for the first half hour it appeared as if the match would be the comfortable United win almost everyone predicted beforehand.
The Red Devils dominated the opening exchanges, testing Artur Boruc on several occasions, and often thanks to some very sloppy defending from Bournemouth. They opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, when Marcos Rojo turned in a scuffed Antonio Valencia shot from close range.
Then things got weird.
The Cherries equalized in the 39th minute after Marc Pugh was fouled by Phil Jones in the penalty area. Josh King converted from the spot.
That was followed up with an off-the-ball spat between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tyrone Mings, which escalated a shortly after when Mings (possibly deliberately — the jury’s still out on that one, but replays were unkind to Mings) stamped on Ibrahimovic’s head. The stamp went unnoticed by the officials, and play continued.
But Ibrahimovic got his revenge a few minutes later, when he appeared to elbow Mings in the side of the head. Ibrahimovic, on a yellow at the time of the incident, avoided the red card he probably deserved. The Cherries captain, Andrew Surman, was not so lucky. He had picked up a yellow earlier on for a tackle on Luke Shaw, and received a second yellow for dissent after Ibrahimovic’s elbow.
The second half saw Bournemouth drop off somewhat, happy to play on the break as United tried to break down their 10-man defense. They seemed to have finally found a way through in the 70th minute, when Paul Pogba won a penalty. Ibrahimovic, who was poor all game, had his spot kick saved by Boruc.
The Cherries, who have the league’s second worst defensive record, just about managed to hold on to earn what, given the circumstances, was an excellent away point.
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Highlights
United stay sixth after the draw, level on points with Liverpool, who play Arsenal in Saturday’s late kickoff. Bournemouth remain 14th.