Manchester United began the new Premier League season with a comfortable 3-1 win against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

On a beautiful summer's day, United struggled to get going in the first half until Juan Mata got the crucial breakthrough for the team five minutes before half-time.

The second half was more like the old United as they took control of the game and goals from Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave the team a 3-0 lead. Adam Smith pulled one back for the home side before the end but United held out to give Jose Mourinho a perfect start.

Both sides made a slow start to the game

The home side settled into the game the better, pressing United high up the field and having plenty of the ball. The visitors when they got the ball in the early stages were pretty slow as they tried to get used to the way Mourinho wants them to play this season.

The pattern of the game continued until midway through the first half when firstly Anthony Martial cut in from the left-hand side and hit a nice shot which just went wide of the goal.

United kept up the pressure from there and almost opened the scoring soon after when a lovely passing move found Rooney in the box. The striker hit a shot first time on goal but Artur Boruc got down well to keep it out.

Mata took advantage of a mistake to give United a crucial lead

United's perseverance finally paid off in the 40th minute when a terrible mistake from Simon Francis played Mata in on goal with a bad back pass to score the opening goal of the game. Mata though needed two opportunities to put the ball in the net after the original effort was saved by Boruc.

Mata celebrates giving United the lead | Photo: Getty
Mata celebrates giving United the lead | Photo: Getty

The visitors comfortably saw out the remaining minutes of the half to go in at half-time with the lead. The first half was a typical Mourinho team performance as they defended well and capitalised on the one mistake in the half.

United began the second half very positively and they should have gone further in front when a fantastic back-heel pass from Ibrahimovic played Rooney through on goal but the striker saw his shot well saved by Boruc. 

Rooney and Ibrahimovic score in quick succession to give United a comfortable 3-0 lead

Rooney though did not let that miss faze him as he doubled United's lead before the hour mark. The goal was made by a great run from Antonio Valencia who crossed the ball into the box to Martial who mistimed his shot but Rooney was there to head to ball past Boruc.

Rooney celebrates scoring United's second goal | Photo: Getty
Rooney celebrates scoring United's second goal | Photo: Getty

It didn't long for the visitors to get their third goal either as Ibrahimovic scored from distance. Minutes before his goal Ibrahimovic was denied by Boruc from a free kick but this time, when he got the ball 30 yards he unleashed a fantastic strike past Boruc into the bottom left-hand corner.

Smith pulled one back for the hosts but it wasn't enough

The home side though to their credit didn't let their heads drop as they managed to get a goal back when Smith unleashed a good left footed strike inside the box past David de Gea.

Unfortunately for the hosts, they couldn't score again even though Andrew Surman forced De Gea into a great save before the end.

United's second half performance was much better than the first with Eric Bailly once again starring during the game. Mourinho will be very satisfied to get the three points from the game.

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