Manchester United's Pre-Season Ends with Defeat to AC Milan
Manchester United’s pre-season ended with a jolt rather than a gentle glide into the new campaign.
A week out from their Premier League opener at promoted Hull City, Michael Carrick’s side twice went in front against AC Milan in Wroclaw, only to be picked apart 4-2 by a team coached by former United boss Ruben Amorim. Scorelines shape stories, even in July. This one will linger longer than United would like.
Bright spots in a bruising night
There were positives, and not minor ones. Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez all made their first appearances of the summer. Captain Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans got a full 90 minutes into their legs. Across six pre-season games, Carrick has largely avoided fresh injuries.
Mason Mount is the exception. What was initially dismissed as a precautionary foot issue in Gothenburg a week ago has now sidelined the in-form midfielder for almost three full matches. Even so, United came through Wroclaw without adding to the medical bulletin.
That is where the good news stops.
Three of Milan’s four goals came from close range, the kind that leave defenders staring at each other and goalkeepers stranded. Those watching with the benefit of replays felt one of them should have been ruled offside – there was no VAR in operation – but the broader pattern was harder to argue with.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek put the seal on it. He surged beyond Martinez, wasn’t reeled back in, and drilled his finish past Senne Lammens. Without Lammens, the margin would have been uglier.
Structural cracks exposed
United repeatedly suffered when Milan switched play to their right. Luke Shaw, on for the full game, was asked to patrol too much space. The distances weren’t enormous between defence and midfield, but they were just big enough, and just uncovered enough, for Milan to keep slipping into them.
This was also the first time this summer that Andrey Santos truly looked like a recent signing learning on the job. After five eye-catching outings, his inexperience showed against a smarter, sharper opponent.
These are not fatal flaws, but they are the kind that will occupy Carrick’s thoughts on the flight back to Manchester as he plots how to start the Premier League season with something more solid than this.
“We are disappointed with today,” he told MUTV. “We didn’t play very well. There are no excuses.” No dressing it up. No attempt to sugar-coat a 4-2 defeat.
In a month or two, once the league table starts to take shape, most at Old Trafford will barely remember a hot night in Wroclaw. Yet the evening might still prove significant for one reason.
Rashford returns – and the questions begin
With an hour gone, Carrick turned to the bench and sent on Marcus Rashford as one of six substitutes. A routine change in a pre-season friendly on paper. In reality, a quietly dramatic moment.
This was Rashford’s first appearance for his boyhood club since Viktoria Plzen away in the Europa League on 12 December 2024. After that, Amorim effectively banished him, then moved him out on loan to Aston Villa and Barcelona. Few expected him to pull on a United shirt again.
Carrick had spoken to UK media in Maynooth on Thursday and never once declared Rashford untouchable or guaranteed to stay beyond the end of the month. The club, for their part, were quick to brief that the number nine shirt he wore in Poland is not yet permanent, wary of supporters rushing to buy a jersey that might not survive deadline day.
On the pitch and on the touchline, Rashford looked relaxed. When he came out for his first warm-up, he ran towards a corner packed with United fans, acknowledged their cheers and applause, and clapped them back. Almost immediately, Samuel Chukwueze slid in Milan’s first equaliser at that same end.
Rashford lingered a little longer than most of his fellow substitutes for a second-half warm-up, sharing a couple of passing tricks with Martinez – a World Cup semi-final opponent only a month ago, now a team-mate again. Small moments, but telling ones.
Once introduced, Rashford hugged the touchline more than Patrick Dorgu, the man he replaced on the left. For the record, Dorgu and Harry Maguire were United’s scorers in this final tune-up, their goals ultimately swallowed by the defensive chaos behind them.
Rashford’s first run ended in a foul conceded. The second brought the crowd to their feet: a sharp, brilliant piece of footwork by the corner flag, taking him past his marker. It was a flash, not a full showreel. But it was enough to remind everyone what he can still do.
As reintroductions go, it was steady rather than spectacular. It didn’t need to be more. Not yet.
Carrick’s next decisions
The real judgment on this United side – and on Rashford’s place within it – will come soon enough. Premier League trips to Hull and then a home date with Ipswich will reveal far more about Carrick’s thinking than 30 minutes in Poland ever could.
By the time the transfer window closes on 1 September, the uncertainty around Rashford will have to give way to something more permanent. Will this cameo prove a footnote, or the first step in an unexpected second act at Old Trafford?
