London — While a defeated Arsene Wenger was counting the cost of Arsenal’s young defenders, a triumphant Jose Mourinho highlighted the value of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s experience to Manchester United on a day of contrasts for the two managers on Sunday.
With three of his first-team defenders unavailable to face Liverpool, Wenger gave an English Premier League debut to 20-year-old Rob Holding, alongside 21-year-old Calum Chambers in central defense. The experiment didn’t work.
A rampant Liverpool came from behind to beat Arsenal, 4-3, at Emirates Stadium, ripping Wenger’s young defense to pieces with consummate ease in the second half.
By contrast, the 34-year-old Ibrahimovic on his EPL debut helped his team’s attacking play and then scored a superb goal as United opened its campaign with a 3-1 win at Bournemouth.
Theo Walcott had put Arsenal ahead at Emirates Stadium, but his side was soon overwhelmed after Liverpool leveled through Philippe Coutinho on the stroke of halftime and then raced into a 4-1 lead after the break.
Liverpool’s fluent passing and clinical finishing in the second half was simply too hot for Arsenal to handle. Classy goals by Adam Lallana, Coutinho and Sadio Mane put the Reds in control before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chambers scored to give Arsenal hope — in vain.
Dortmund, Germany — Bayern Munich defeated Borussia Dortmund, 2-0, in the German Super Cup to get new coach Carlo Ancelotti off to a winning start Sunday.
Arturo Vidal and Thomas Mueller scored in the second half after Dortmund, which had dominated the game in its Westfalenstadion, wasted several chances to score.
Vidal broke the deadlock in the 58th minute, tucking away the rebound after Roman Buerki saved his first effort, and Mueller sealed the result in the 79th after former Dortmund captain Mats Hummels headed on a corner. Hummels was playing his first game back in Dortmund since his summer switch between the sides.
Seville, Spain — Luis Suarez and Munir El Haddadi scored in the second half to give Barcelona a 2-0 win at Sevilla in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Sunday.
Arda Turan set up Suarez with a wonderful chested pass in the 54th minute after Denis Suarez found him in the area with a well-placed lob.
Substitute Munir El Haddadi sealed the win in the 81st from a pass by Lionel Messi five minutes after going on.
Sevilla’s pressure kept Barcelona at bay until a dip in intensity after halftime gave last season’s league and cup champions the space they needed to claim the commanding victory at Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.
Barcelona lost both Andres Iniesta and Jeremy Mathieu to injury in the first half.
Bridgeview, Ill. — Razvan Cocis scored off a set piece late in the second half to give the Chicago Fire a 2-2 draw with Orlando City on Sunday.
Brandon Vincent put the ball out front after a quick pass on a corner kick and Cocis got his head on it with enough force that goalkeeper Joe Bendik couldn’t keep it out of the net despite getting a hand on it. It was the third goal for Cocis.
Prior to that goal in the 78th minute, Chicago (4-11-7), last in the Eastern Conference, was being dominated but that ignited the Fire and they had several strong chances in the closing minutes.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute as John Gossens surprised Bendik with a long-range shot that deflected off the post.
Orlando (5-6-12) got the equalizer in the ninth when Cyle Larin reached Kaka’s short flip and guided it into the net for his 12th goal. Orlando City, which is tied with D.C. United for the final qualifying spot in the East, gained the lead when Kaka cleaned up Larin’s header off the post in the 32nd minute for his fourth goal.
