'Lion' Ibrahimovic joins scrap for a United starting spot

Soccer Football - Champions League - Basel vs Manchester United - St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland - November 22, 2017 Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimovic Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

LONDON (Reuters) - Zlatan Ibrahimovic marked his early return from injury last week by boasting that "lions don't recover like humans" - and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be particularly relieved that is the case.

Ibrahimovic had been expected to be sidelined until January after suffering knee ligament damage in April, but the 36-year-old Swede worked his way back to fitness two months ahead of schedule to make his comeback from the substitutes' bench in last Saturday's victory over Newcastle United.