Manchester United's Defensive Struggles Exposed by AC Milan
Manchester United’s last dress rehearsal for the new Premier League season turned into a warning siren, as Michael Carrick’s side were taken apart 4-2 by a sharp, unforgiving AC Milan.
For a couple of minutes, it looked perfect.
Harry Maguire powered United in front after just 120 seconds, climbing above everyone to thump in a Bruno Fernandes corner. It was the kind of start that settles a team, the kind that usually leads to a controlled, professional evening.
Instead, it became the high point.
Milan grew into the game, then took it over. In the 37th minute, Goncalo Ramos slipped a clever pass into Samuel Chukwueze, and the winger did the rest, levelling the match and exposing the looseness in United’s back line for the first time.
United still should have gone in ahead at the break. They had the chance, on a plate.
Fernandes stepped up from the spot with a firmly struck penalty, only to see it beaten away. A big moment, wasted. The scores stayed level, the mood shifted, and Milan walked down the tunnel with the sense that United were there for them.
Second Half
Second half, same story: United struck first, then fell apart.
Patrick Dorgu pounced on a dreadful back-pass from Filippo Terracciano, punished the mistake, and restored United’s lead. At 2-1, with pre-season minutes in the legs and the opener at Hull City looming, it should have been the platform to close the game out and manage the contest.
Instead, United’s defensive structure simply disintegrated.
Chukwueze started to torture the right-hand side. Cross after cross, run after run. Eventually the dam burst. Alphadjo Cisse drifted in at the far post, untracked, to make it 2-2 as Chukwueze again ripped through Carrick’s flank.
The pressure told again. This time, Chukwueze turned provider for Ramos, who nodded Milan in front for the first time. United were rocking now, unable to plug the gaps, their right side a glaring target.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek then arrived to drive the point home, exploiting that same exposed channel to make it 4-2 and seal a dominant Milan performance. What had started as a confident tune-up ended as a defensive horror show.
Carrick did not hide from it.
“Today, we’re disappointed with it. We didn’t play well today,” he admitted afterwards. “There are reasons for that and we need to improve. Some of the boys were playing their first minutes. Different reasons – but no excuses. We didn’t play very well.”
He knew what he had just watched in Poland fell way below Old Trafford expectations. Yet he refused to let one collapse define the summer.
United’s pre-season had been mixed rather than disastrous before Milan exposed the cracks. A 1-1 draw with Leeds United followed by a penalty shootout win, another 1-1 against Paris Saint-Germain, and a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid had suggested steady, if unspectacular, progress.
Carrick leaned on that broader picture.
“Overall, we are ready for next week. A lot of the boys will be better off for the minutes,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work on the training pitch, the performances in the games have been pretty good. We’re still in good spirits going into next week.”
If the scoreline stung, the night still carried some significant positives.
Marcus Rashford pulled on a United shirt in a competitive setting for the first time in 20 months, stepping off the bench on the hour mark wearing the No. 9. His last outing for the club had come back in December 2024, in the early days of Ruben Amorim’s tenure at Old Trafford. His return, alongside minutes for Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo, suddenly gives Carrick real decisions to make before the trip to Hull.
“We’ve got a good squad. There are decisions to be made. Of course it is,” Carrick said. “We’ve got another week’s training to get ready for next week. There’s a whole different feeling when it’s the first league game of the season. We will be there.”
The attacking options are stacking up. The competition for starting places is real.
But so is the concern: that vulnerable right flank, the lack of control once the game turned, the inability to reset under pressure. Milan did not just win; they underlined exactly where United can be hurt.
Hull City away on August 22 will not be as forgiving.
