United ends Mourinho's honeymoon

MANCHESTER, England－Marcus Rashford spoiled Jose Mourinho's return to Old Trafford on Wednesday night, scoring twice as Manchester United beat Tottenham Hostspur 2-1 to end its former manager's perfect start to his tenure at the north London club.

The England forward put United in front early in the first half and converted a second-half penalty to restore its lead after Dele Alli's exquisite equalizer as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side leapfrogged Spurs, climbing to sixth in the Premier League standings.

Spurs had won its first three games under Mourinho, who replaced the fired Mauricio Pochettino last month.

Struggling United had made its worst start to a season in 31 years but played with energy and adventure and deserved its win.

Smiling manager Solskjaer hailed his youthful side.

"The three points are massive for us," he told the BBC. "We've had too many draws this season and given too many points away from winning positions. It's a great lesson the last two games (Sheffield United and Aston Villa) and we came back in a great manner.

"We've started the rebuilding. We've made decisions that we had to and we're looking to build this club to be better again and I can't think short-term when I'm trying to do that."

The home side deservedly took the lead when Rashford beat Spurs goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga at his near post in the sixth minute－the forward's 11th goal in his past 13 games for United and England.

United could easily have stretched its lead but Gazzaniga made amends by touching a thunderous Rashford shot onto the crossbar.

Tottenham was on level terms six minutes before halftime when Alli pounced on a Serge Aurier rebound to apply a clever finish for his fourth goal in three games.

United was back in front in the 49th minute when Rashford sent Gazzaniga the wrong way from the spot after being brought down by Moussa Sissoko.

United surged forward in search of the winner, with Rashford a constant threat down the left and Daniel James also looking dangerous.

Mourinho threw on unsettled midfielder Christian Eriksen in search of an equalizer as the game remained in the balance, but despite some late pressure against a nervy United, Spurs left Old Trafford empty-handed.

The new Spurs boss, fired by United last December, described his reception at Old Trafford as "nice and polite".

"It's a step back against a team that is playing with the same objective as us, trying to get up the table and reach the top six," he said. "We need to keep going. We made mistakes but it's not good to be crying about them now."

Mourinho won his first three matches in charge of Spurs, with his team scoring 10 goals in the process but he has problems to sort out at the back as he targets a Champions League spot.

United is also eyeing the top four despite a big gap to close. It remains eight points behind fourth-place Chelsea and just seven points above the relegation zone.