Jose Mourinho heaped praise on Manchester United ace Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the wake of Sunday's EFL Cup triumph.

The veteran Swedish striker scored a match-winning brace as the Red Devils held off Southampton 3-2 at Wembley.

Ibrahimovic opened the scoring with a quite sublime free-kick on 19 minutes before heading home an Ander Herrera cross in the 87th minute to win it for the Red Devils.

"He won the game for us, he was outstanding," said Mourinho.

"Paul Pogba was at a similar level but Zlatan was outstanding in a match where our opponent was better than us for large periods of the game.

"They (Southampton) deserved to go to extra-time, they didn't deserve to lose, but Zlatan made the difference and won us the cup."

After Ibrahimovic's opener, Jesse Lingard scored another Wembley goal to give United a 2-0 lead before a quick-fire brace from Manolo Gabbiadini either side of the break had the Saints back in the contest.

But Zlatan's late intervention allowed Mourinho to pick up his fourth League Cup, joining Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough at the top of the list.