FA Cup holders United won 2-1 against champions Leicester City at Wembley on Sunday to take the prize in the traditional curtain-raiser for the new season. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late header sealed the win after Jesse Lingard, who also scored the match-winning goal in the FA Cup final, had put them 1-0 ahead.
Mourinho told BT Sport: “I want to dedicate this to eight people; for the seven people who were not selected — Ashley Young, Phil Jones, all of them — and also to Louis van Gaal. He won the FA Cup. Without him, we wouldn’t be here now celebrating.”
News of Van Gaal’s departure as United manager, to be replaced by Mourinho, had been leaked in the aftermath of the Cup final win against Crystal Palace in May.
The former Chelsea manager’s arrival was seen as potentially bad news for United midfielder Juan Mata, who he had frozen out while the pair were both with the London club.
The Spaniard suffered an embarrassing afternoon against Leicester, as he was substituted off in injury time — despite having been brought on less than half an hour earlier.
Mourinho denied that he was unhappy with Mata’s display, saying: “He played very well. He gave me exactly what I needed at that time.”
Explaining the decision to substitute the player, Mourinho explained: “We were winning 1-0, late on, and I had one substitution left. I had to take one player off. I had to take off the smallest one at the end because of the long balls and throw-ins.”
The former Real Madrid and Chelsea boss, who is looking to implement a different style of play to Van Gaal but has only had limited time with his full squad in preseason, said: “I think it’s an important victory but we have lots of work [to do].
“I would not be ambitious if I said we had a fantastic performance, because it was not a fantastic performance. It was a possible performance for the moment of the season, some of these guys who played today had only one week of training.
“No preseason in China, a very bad pre-season, so I think step by step we are changing, but I think it’s always important to start with a trophy.”
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