Watching Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s fine, bloody-minded match-winning turn for Manchester United in the EFL Cup final it was hard not to reach back in time for comparisons. Rewind to the early 1990s and English football’s restless north-western superpower needed fresh blood, a point of attacking inspiration to energise an emerging team. A new striker was signed to add stardust up front. History shows it worked, too. Dean Saunders scored 23 goals as Liverpool won the FA Cup in 1992.
Saunders left after one season – as Ibrahimovic still might – and went to Aston Villa, as Ibrahimovic, it seems fair to say, definitely will not. Oddly enough, in the EFL Cup final debrief Saunders has been largely overlooked as a point of reference. For Ibrahimovic the more exciting comparison is, of course, Eric Cantona, so often hailed as the pistol shot, the catalyst, the magic potion that set in train two decades of outrageous success for United.
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