Back on the 21st June, Brazilian Fred joined United for around £52 million and in two days time may make his Manchester United debut in our pre-season game against AC Milan in California. Although Fred was in Russia with his national side for the World Cup, he didn’t actually play any minutes so when he joins up with his new squad this week he’ll be raring to go. Anyway, match report to follow in a couple of days #CotRoM
July 26th – AC Milan, Pasadena Rose Bowl, California at 4am UK time
United Team: Grant (J. Pereira 46);
Bailly, Smalling, Tuanzebe;
Darmian, Herrera, A. Pereira, McTominay, Shaw (Fosu-Mensah 74);
Mata (Hamilton 89), Alexis.
AC Milan Team: Donnarumma (Reina 61);
Abate (Antonelli 61), Musacchio, Bonucci (Romagnoli 46), Calabria;
Kessié, Locatelli (Mauri 60), Bertolacci (Borini 46);
Suso, Cutrone (Kalinic 75), Calhanoglu.
UNITED 1 (Alexis 12) vs AC MILAN 1 (Suso 15)
United won 9-8 on penalties
Penalty scorers: A. Pereira (2), Herrera (2), Alexis, Smalling, Tuanzebe, Fosu-Menshah, Darmian.
Penalty scorers: Calhanoglu (2), Kessié, Reina, Calabria, Kalinic, Musacchio, Antonelli.
Well, so much for Fred making his United debut in our game with AC Milan, sorry about that, Jose must be saving him for our match against Liverpool, hah. Anyway, we won our opening ICC2019 match vs seven-time European Cup winners AC Milan, but only on penalties, still a wins a win but importantly there was more game time for some of the lads. As well as lots of penalty practising from twelve yards.
Both Grant and Joel Pereira got more time between the sticks, with Tuanzebe, Shaw and Andreas Pereira getting ver good game time as we close in on the start of the season. Andreas Pereira has looked great though and I really hope he gets a chance this season, I wanted him to get a chance last season but maybe the loan spells he’s had over the last two seasons in Spain have worked a treat.
Firstly at Granada, where he was regular in the side and scored a handful of goals. Then at Valencia, where he played as often but still contributed and got enough first-team action to know what it’s all about. Let’s hope he continues his form in a United shirt in years to come.
As for the match, United were the better team by far with AC Milan hardly causing either of our keepers much trouble in the ninety minutes. United should have won it before penalties, but Herrera, Shaw and Pereira himself missed good opportunities. Joel Pereira didn’t have much to do in the forty-five minutes he played in the second half, but he was certainly busy in the penalty shoot-out. He actually took a penalty to win it, but missed, he did however save three penalties and United eventually won it 9-8. The scousers are up next!
Remaining Fixtures:
July 28th – Liverpool, Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor at 10pm UK time
August 1st – Real Madrid, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami at 1am UK time
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