Zlatan Ibrahimovic and an oddly inadequate hat-trick

He may rank as the greatest player of his generation not to win the Champions League. He has stepped up his campaign to secure a belated first European trophy. A man who tends to take centre stage, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been downgraded to Europa League duty and could advance further.

He is a paradox, prolific and profligate, a guarantee of goals and an enigma alike, a conundrum in his ability to be reliable and erratic at the same time. His first Manchester United hat-trick came on a night when he posted his entry for the miss-of-the-season contest. Saint-Etienne were first reprieved and then condemned by Ibrahimovic, his treble all but booking United’s place in the last 16.

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The defining miss of the night, ultimately, came from a man in the No. 9 shirt: just not Ibrahimovic. The Saint-Etienne substitute Nolan Roux advanced on Sergio Romero’s goal, seemed primed to equalise, and landed his shot on the roof of the net. Two minutes later, the Swede had his second. After a further dozen minutes, he had his hat-trick.

His ability to score against French opposition became clear in his four years at Paris Saint-Germain, culminating in a season where 51 games produced 50 goals. It has not deserted him. He took his tally against Saint-Etienne to 17 and his total for United to 23. He was already the first forward to reach the 20 barrier since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. He is on course to reach 30, probably in April, and yet had he been as clinical as perhaps was expected then Denis Law’s club record of 46 in a season might have come under threat.

Consider the incident when an inability to score would have been extraordinary for a lesser player, let alone one who now has 477 goals for club and country. Perhaps Ibrahimovic was surprised when goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier parried Anthony Martial’s shot straight into his path, perhaps shocked the former Lyon man’s stunning solo run had not yielded a goal. Yet scorers tended to be defined by their alertness and Ibrahimovic’s reaction, scooping a shot over an unguarded goal, was oddly inadequate.

It brought back memories of Saturday’s display against Watford when he spared the Hornets a hammering. Then he had eight attempts, only two on target, and drew a fourth blank in five games. Ibrahimovic is a reason why United have scored more goals than they did at this stage of last season under Louis van Gaal and one why they are outscored by the Premier League’s top five. He is usually the solution, but occasionally also the problem.

But his colossal self-belief has its benefits. It is not dented by shots that go askew. Forty-eight hours after Valentine’s Day, Ibrahimovic threatened to have another night with the misses. Instead, he departed with the match ball. He is relentlessly persistent, forever in the penalty area, always willing to try his luck, in a manner a former United forward with a similarly high opinion of himself, Cristiano Ronaldo, would recognise.

His opener showed a mixture of savoir faire and luck. He aimed his free kick under the Saint-Etienne wall, but it was the telling touch off Vincent Pajot which defeated the unfortunate Ruffier. Then, after other chances were spurned, he was on hand to finish Marcus Rashford’s deflected cross after a wonderful surge from the substitute.

When Ibrahimovic felt a slight nudge in his back from Kevin Theophile-Catherine, he tumbled melodramatically, got to his feet and converted the penalty. It was his 17th goal in 19 games, despite that recent mini-drought.

Martial was arguably the game’s outstanding figure but Ibrahimovic captured the headlines. As he knows all too well, scorers can do that. The ego has landed in both England and the Europa League and is finding the net in both. He was accustomed to having his Thursday nights off. Before joining United, Ibrahimovic had not figured on such a stage since it was the Uefa Cup and he was a 20-year-old at Ajax. Now he may have a chance of winning it.