Manchester United's Pre-Season Ends in Defeat Against AC Milan
This was not the send-off Manchester United wanted before the real stuff starts.
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 – and still walked off on the wrong end of a 4-2 defeat to a team coached by former United boss Ruben Amorim.
The scoreline will sting. The timing might matter even more.
Bright returns, nagging concerns
Carrick did at least get some of the answers he wanted from his squad. Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez all made their first appearances of pre-season. Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans went the distance, with Luke Shaw also completing 90 minutes.
The medical bulletin looked relatively clean at full-time. Across a six-game pre-season that has largely run smoothly, only Mason Mount’s foot problem has lingered. What was initially dismissed as a precaution after Gothenburg a week ago has now ruled the in-form midfielder out of almost three full matches.
But results frame everything. Losing 4-2 to Milan, and conceding four times without VAR in operation to bail them out on any tight calls, will follow United back to Manchester.
Three of Milan’s goals came from close range, the kind of finishes that speak to lapses in concentration and structure more than brilliance from distance. Those with access to replays were convinced at least one should have been chalked off for offside. On the night, it stood.
The final blow came from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who simply burned past Martinez, held him off and drilled his finish beyond Senne Lammens. The goalkeeper, ironically, stopped the damage from being heavier.
Structural cracks exposed
Patterns in United’s defending will trouble Carrick more than the raw numbers.
Milan repeatedly found joy when they switched play to their right. Shaw was left with huge swathes of grass to patrol, often having to sprint out to the touchline with little protection inside. The gaps between defence and midfield were not enormous, but they weren’t guarded with enough conviction.
Andrey Santos, so impressive in United’s first five outings of the summer, endured a harsher lesson here. His inexperience showed against higher-level movement and quicker passing, leaving spaces that Milan happily exploited.
These are the details Carrick will turn over in his mind on the flight home, as he works out how to set his side up when the points start counting.
“We are disappointed with today,” he told MUTV. “We didn’t play very well. There are no excuses.”
He will hope Old Trafford forgets this quickly once the season settles into rhythm. Yet one element of the night may echo well beyond August.
Rashford’s return, and a future still in limbo
With an hour gone, the fourth official’s board went up and Marcus Rashford stepped to the touchline. One of six substitutes, but the only one who shifted the mood.
This was his first appearance for United since Viktoria Plzen away in the Europa League on 12 December 2024 – the night after which his relationship with Amorim effectively broke. What followed was exile: a loan to Aston Villa, then Barcelona, and a general assumption he would not be back.
Yet here he was in Poland, wearing the number nine shirt. Club officials were quick to stress that the number is not permanent, anxious to head off any rush for replica shirts that might soon be out of date. It tells its own story: Rashford is back in the building, but his long-term status is far from settled.
Carrick had the chance, when he spoke to UK media in Maynooth on Thursday, to nail down Rashford’s future. He did not. The silence was as telling as any statement.
On the pitch, the 28-year-old looked at ease. When he went out for his first warm-up, he acknowledged the warm reception from United fans gathered in the corner he was running towards. Almost immediately, Samuel Chukwueze was sliding in Milan’s first equaliser at that very end.
Later, Rashford re-emerged a little behind the other substitutes for a second-half warm-up, pausing for a couple of casual passing tricks with Martinez – the defender who had stood opposite him in a World Cup semi-final just a month earlier.
Once introduced, Rashford held a wider position than Patrick Dorgu, the man he replaced on the left. Dorgu and Harry Maguire had earlier found the net for United, the only real statistical positives in a chaotic defensive display.
Rashford’s first surge ended with him conceding a foul, a reminder of rust. But then came a flash of the old electricity: a brilliant piece of footwork by the corner flag, gliding past his marker and jolting much of the crowd to their feet.
It was not a spectacular comeback. It did not need to be. For a player who had been effectively pushed out of the club, simply being back on the pitch in United colours, moving freely, mattered enough.
Eyes on Hull, and the clock
Pre-season is over. The excuses vanish next.
Trips to Hull and then a home date with Ipswich will reveal far more about Carrick’s thinking than any friendly in Wroclaw. They will also run down the clock.
The transfer window closes on 1 September. By then, United must decide whether Rashford is part of their future or a valuable asset to cash in on.
His 30-minute cameo in Poland did not answer that question.
It only made it impossible to ignore.
