Chicharito’s return to the Theatre of Dreams turned into a nightmare as Manchester United defeated West Ham United 4-0 in their opening Premier League fixture.
The Hammers were haunted by two goals from Romelu Lukaku and late strikes from Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba at Old Trafford as the Mexican suffered a heavy defeat at the stadium he called home for four seasons.
Chicharito was his usual busy self, always offering himself for the ball and making runs in behind the home defence, but Jose Mourinho’s men starved him of service and restricted him to just one first half chance.
“Of course, it could have gone better for me and for us,” he said. “Nobody wants to lose 4-0 on any pitch in the world, but they were a little bit better, more ruthless and after the second goal, things went very positively for them.”
West Ham’s best chance fell not to Chicharito but to Swiss midfielder Edimilson Fernandes on the stroke of half-time, but his rasping shot was turned aside by David De Gea.
When asked if the game would have turned out differently had the No31 found the back of the net, the experienced Mexican was not being drawn.
Instead, he pointed to Manchester United’s clinical finishing as the major reason for their emphatic victory. The Red Devils scored four goals from just six shots on target.
Nobody wants to lose 4-0 on any pitch in the world, but they were a little bit better, more ruthless and after the second goal, things went very positively for them
Chicharito
“It probably would have been different, but we cannot speak about that because it wasn’t a goal,” he said. “In the first half, we played really well but we had one big mistake and they scored.
“They are Manchester United and they finished us off.”
West Ham did not lose because of any lack of effort, the new No17 claimed, but because they were playing against the better team on the day.
“We did everything and we tried to play as well as we can, but Manchester United pushed us a little bit back because they are a great team,” he observed. “We had chances even after they scored their second goal, when we had a header from Arnie which hit the crossbar.
“It’s the first game of the season and obviously we are not happy with the result. We played a team who were in better form than us. We can say a lot of stuff, but that won’t change anything if I say it.
“We lost to a better team and now we have to improve and keep working.”