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Saint-Etienne's Galtier: Ibrahimovic was 'refereed as a star'

Andrew Yates / Reuters

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first Manchester United hat-trick Thursday in a 3-0 Europa League victory over a spirited Saint-Etienne courtesy of some favourable officiating, prompting critical remarks from Les Verts boss Christophe Galtier.

After a contentious foul call on the edge of the area saw the angular Swede open the scoring and a soft penalty call minutes before the final whistle was banged in to complete the treble, Galtier was none too pleased with match official Pavel Kralovec.

Related - Watch: Zlatan bags 1st United hat-trick in win over Saint-Etienne

"He was refereed as a star," Galtier offered in his postmatch presser, according to Ian Holyman of ESPN FC. "He was refereed as a star, but it is again him who scored three goals.

"In the end, we head home having lost 3-0, with two big errors of judgement by the referee."

Errors or not, Saint-Etienne made a good account of themselves Thursday at Old Trafford, but for all of the decent build-up play, the Rhone-Alpes side lacked in finishing, with strikers Romain Hamouma and substitute Nolan Roux missing several chances.

With Henri Saivet, Kevin Monnet-Pacquet, and Jorginho productive as an attacking three-prong midfield, Saint-Etienne should have made more of its chances, though Galtier would rather focus on the officiating than his own side's failure to record a shot on target.

"It is hard and it's severe for my players, in relation to what they did. Often it is said that big teams are well refereed."

Midfielder and Aston Villa flop Jordan Veretout echoed his manager's admissions, saying, "For the first free kick, it was a foul on me and not the other way round."

"That's great strikers - they get fouls. It's a shame because we had chances to score. Afterwards, Manchester United stepped up their rhythm."

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