Rockstar Zlatan has officially announced his arrival to Manchester United fans with a trademark goal

The pitch in Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium in Sweden had taken a battering recently. It had been host to a Bruce Springsteen concert and the ground had had to be refurbished as normal business, also known as football, would resume shortly.

Swedes turned out in hordes again on Saturday, but this time to pay homage to another rockstar, one of their own heroes, who rightly overshadowed both the team that he was playing for, the mighty Manchester United, and the team that he was playing against, Galatasaray of Turkey.

Considering that this was a pre-season friendly, one fully expected him to say, “Zlatan doesn’t do friendlies!” But the 34-year old Ibrahimovic was making his debut for United, and this match in front of a partisan, wildly cheering home crowd was about him, it had to be about him. After all, Zlatan wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Even United’s official Twitter handle seemed to understand the enormity of the situation as they declared it was "ZlatanTime" even as they announced the squad.

Zlatan time

Three minutes and 14 seconds later, the crowd’s prayers were answered. As Antonio Valencia skipped down United’s right wing, Zlatan readied himself in the middle of Gala’s penalty box, akin to an experienced marksman, waiting for his kill.

As the ball seemed to hang in the air before starting its downward trajectory, Zlatan turned to face the ball before deciding against cushioning the ball with his chest and a subsequent shot. The Swede rose in the air and pivoted around his centre of gravity before catching the ball with his right boot with a shot that looked very much like a scissor kick. Social media would go gaga later, claiming it was an “acrobatic bicycle kick”.

He had scuffed it and it had not been struck cleanly. But Zlatan looked away, as though in his mind, the outcome was a mere formality. Even the Gala keeper, Fernando Muslera, chose to do nothing about it, expecting a fierce shot from the martial artist.

The bounce of the ball only seemed to confound Muslera, an effort at recuperation ending in a tame scramble as the spherer nestled into the right hand side of the net.

Zlatan had opened his account for United in trademark showman style, laying the gauntlet down, while having a mini-parade of his own at the same time.

To the casual observer, Marcus Rashford, who came on later for Ibrahimovic, showed more fizz, urgency and posed a considerable threat when he was on the ball. But Ibra, in his own way, had shown that winning mentality, an area wrought with frailties for United throughout the previous season.

Making his mark

Take the case of the goal. While Zlatan did finish it off emphatically, he also had three key touches close to the centre circle en route to the goal. Overall, he showed a few good touches, including a lovely backheel, connecting well with his new teammates to round off a decent pre-season outing. There were a few, including a former Red, who were impressed with what they saw.

United have made three first-team signings so far, Henrikh Mkhitaryan (€26 million), Eric Bailley (€30 million) and Ibrahimovic (a free transfer). It’s not difficult to guess which signing has generated the most noise.

From one king to another

From taking United legend Eric Cantona on by quipping that if the Frenchman was King, then Zlatan himself was God of Manchester, to fellow brash-man Usain Bolt telling the Swede that Bolt would be watching “him”, brand Zlatan has clocked up quite a few social media miles in red already.

Even his own team is no stranger to the reaction that Zlatan has provoked in Manchester, as Anthony Martial was allegedly miffed that the No. 9 shirt had been taken away from the supremely talented young Frenchman and given to the Swede instead. Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera had earlier claimed that the man from Malmo was a “leader” in the dressing room.

Whatever happens this year, Zlatan’s first goal looks to encapsulate his time at United. A touch of the sublime along with a whole lot of showboating, next to a sizeable pile of grit.

The reunion between the firebrand and his fellow rabble-rouser Jose Mourinho, this marriage of impudence and arrogance (The Brash One and the Special One), may be exactly what United need to douse the Guardiola-shaped blue flame from across the city.

Both the manager and player are not only supremely talented but have also shown before that they are not willing to back down. (Although Hernan Crespo in his op-ed piece for Guardian has claimed that Zlatan has mellowed since the days that he, Mou and Crespo were together at Inter). Both will demand the best of self and team as their football-pitch sized egos refuse to accept anything other than three points on the board.

Louis Van Gaal’s era at United was a dull, bland affair, bordering on the soporific, that made the ardent Red Devil fan sit and rub his eyes in disbelief. Both manager and team lay down, getting roiled way too easily

If LVG’s time was a black-and-white movie poorly conceptualised, Ibra and Mou’s will be anything but that. Together with the probable signing that is Paul Pogba, they will be bringing the oomph back to Old Trafford this season. Win, draw or lose, every match, every press conference and every soundbyte threatens to be explosive, not merely theatrical. If played right, this could be football’s version of The Expendables.