Manchester United ended their pre-season tour of the USA with a 2-1 win over European champions Real Madrid over in Miami.
While Manchester United finally picked up their first win of their tour, you can’t really take much from the result, with the Premier League side having played five games, this was Real Madrid’s first.
Jose Mourinho has spent the majority of the summer whinging about a lack of players, but it was Real Madrid who fielded the weakest team, with Gareth Bale and Karin Benzema being the only real recognisable names due to their lack of World Cup action.
United opened the scoring through Alexis Sanchez, who neatly steered Matteo Darmian’s cross beyond Kiko Casilla. The Chilean was involved again, expertly nodding back Juan Mata’s cross into Ander Herrera, who arrived late in the box to fire a first time finish to make it two. Karin Benzema pulled one back from close range on the stroke of half-time with what would be the last goal of the game.
Here are how Manchester United players fared:
De Gea – 6
Very little to do throughout. Could do nothing about Benzema’s goal just before the break.
Darmian – 7
Got forward regularly. Great pull-back to Alexis Sanchez for the opener.
Fosu-Mensah – 6
Beaten by debutant Vinicius once in the first half, but generally did well.
Bailly – 6
Solid at the back, throwing his body on the line, but could have done better with the Real Madrid goal.
McTominay – 6
Surprisingly started to the left of a back three, did ok, but caught out of position on a few occasions.
Shaw – 6
Defended well and got forward, but his delivery was often poor.
Pereira – 7
Tenacious in midfield again, and likely to start the Premier League opener next week after an impressive pre-season.
Fred – 7
Showed flashes of brilliance on the ball, but you feel there is more to come from the £52m man.
Herrera – 8
Excellent throughout. Showed great tenacity in the tackle and creativity in the pass, sliding a delicious through-ball to Darmian for the opener, before striking a left footed strike past Casilla to make it 2-0.
Mata – 8
Excellent link-up between Sanchez once again, putting in a fine ball to the Chilean in the build up to the Reds second goal.
Sanchez – 9
Clearly benefiting from having a his first summer break in nine years. Looks really sharp once again. Scored the opener with a tidy first time finish, before grabbing an assist with a lovely cushioned header to Herrera for the second.
Subs
Tuanzebe – 6
Mitchell – N/A
Garner – N/A
