FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED centre-back Nemanja Vidic has written the Red Devils out of this season’s Premier League title chase.
United had registered nine consecutive Premier League victories before Sunday evening’s 1-1 draw with rivals Liverpool, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic snatching a point for Jose Mourinho’s side with his 14th league goal of the campaign.
The draw in Manchester leaves United 12 points behind table-topping Chelsea after 21 fixtures and Vidic, who spent nine seasons at Old Trafford, believes a realistic title charge is now off the cards for his old club.
“Realistically we are out of the title race,” he told ESPN. “That’s my opinion. But, in recent weeks, the way we have played is encouraging. If we keep playing like that then the top three is our target.”
“After 1-0, you take the 1-1. In the first half, we played well. We had three or four good chances and didn’t take them. If you want to win the match, you have to take the chances we had.
“In the second half, we didn’t play as good as in the first one – but we scored a goal. Ibrahimovic showed his class again. One chance, one goal. Overall, 1-1 is a fair result.”
Ibrahimovic’s late header was his 10th goal in as many games for United and his 19th for the club overall this term.
The goal rescued a point Mourinho’s side, who fell behind when James Milner converted a spot kick awarded to Liverpool after Paul Pogba handled the ball inside the penalty area.
The draw was deemed a fair result by most, and Ibrahimovic was satisfied with gaining a point despite United’s performance being littered with small mistakes.
“We got one point, we were not at the top of our game and it was a hard fight,” Ibrahimovic said to Sky Sports after the game.
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