MANCHESTER UNITED 1-1 ATHLETIC BILBAO: Young Uruguayan Facundo Pellistri was the star of the show for United in rainy Dublin as they played out a 1-1 draw against the Spanish outfit
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Manchester United played their second game in 24 hours when they took on Spanish outfit Athletic Bilbao in Dublin, earning a 1-1 draw in the process.
Just a day after toppling RC Lens at Old Trafford, the Red Devils made the trip to Ireland for their last taste of pre-season action before their Premier League opener against Wolves next Monday. It was a completely different starting line-up to the one that took on Lens, with boss Erik ten Hag making clear who he views as the priority players before the new campaign begins.
Jadon Sancho was played through one on one inside the opening three minutes, but could only fire straight at goalkeeper Unai Simon. Nico Williams made United pay, putting Athletic in front after Harry Maguire was guilty of some poor passing.
Mid-way through the second-half, Aitor Paredes was shown a red-card after he cynically hauled down Hannibal Mejbri when the Tunisia international would have been through on goal.
It was a fiercely contested affair considering this was the last friendly before competitive action gets started, with plenty of thunderous tackles flying in throughout.
In the dying moments, United youngster Facundo Pellistri spared Maguire’s blushes with the last kick of the match. The Uruguayan volleyed home from close range to ensure the honours ended even.
With that in mind, Mirror Football analysed five talking points from United’s
Sancho looking sharp
Jadon Sancho was one of United’s brightest sparks
United’s £72million man is still yet to enjoy a full campaign of stellar performances in a Red Devils shirt and will be desperate to buck that trend.
The early signs look good this pre-season and considering Sancho was one of the few players to star in both games this weekend in some capcity, he looked surprisingly sharp in game two.
As mentioned, the England international enjoyed one of the best chances of the game very early on but his effort was too tame to beat Spain shot-stopper Simon.
There wasn’t much for the crowd inside the Aviva stadium to get off their seats about inside the opening 25 minutes, but Sancho’s delightful nutmeg in the middle of the park got quite the cheer.
The former Borussia Dortmund man often picked up pockets of space while operating as a false nine, a role that appears to suit Sancho. Replaced by Joe Hugill after 63 minutes, Ten Hag will be pleased with what he saw from his number 25.
Maguire’s misery
Harry Maguire looked despondent after his error lead to Athletic Bilbao’s first-half goal
Harry Maguire’s inclusion in the starting line-up for this contest is a damning indictment of his standing in the Red Devils pecking order.
This contest was little more than a fitness exercise for United’s fringe players, with the real big-hitters and those at the forefront of Ten Hag’s mind featuring yesterday against Lens.
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Maguire has endured a difficult pre-season at the club, having seen his manager strip him of the captain’s armband and hand the role to team-mate Bruno Fernandes, a decision that the defender confessed disappointed him.
His summer hardly got any better on Sunday, with Maguire being punished for a sloppy pass in emphatic fashion. His sloppiness allowed Athletic to take the lead, with Nico Williams making no mistake afer being played through on goal, getting the better of the onrushing Heaton.
The England international remains the subject of interest from West Ham, who saw a £20m bid for Maguire rejected earlier on this window. The fact he featured in this tie suggests the 30-year-old is well down the pecking order at Old Trafford and could still leave before the window’s close.
Youngsters given chance to shine
Facundo Pellistri was a constant threat throughout the game
There’s little to no chance United fans will see a line-up that includes so many young academy talents when the season really gets underway, but four talented youngsters were handed an opportunity from the off against the LaLiga outfit.
Facundo Pellistri, Omari Forson, Dan Gore and Alvaro Fernandez were named in the line-up and enjoyed contrasting afternoons.
Pellistri is the most experienced of the aforementioned quartet with 10 first-team appearances, while Forson actually came on at the tail-end of yesterday’s clash alongside Sancho, who also started this tie. Gore even had the confidence to bark instructions at Maguire, a team-mate 12 years his senior with significantly more experience.
While Fernandez struggled to deal with the pace of Inaki Williams at times, Pellistri was the best of the young four as he constantly tried to drive his side up the pitch and got his rewards in the end with a last-gasp goal.
The end for Van de Beek?
Donny van de Beek failed to get to grips with the game at all and was replaced at half-time
Considering Donny van de Beek was one of the most experienced and expensive players to start this game, the fact he was hooked at half-time sums up his United career.
The £40m 26-year-old lined up in the middle of the park and failed to make any kind of meaningful impact on proceedings within the 45 minutes he was given.
Van de Beek has now featured under three different managers at Old Trafford and looks increasingly unlikely to revive his flatlining United career.
Performances like this dire showing certainly aren’t going to turn things around and with Mason Mount arriving this summer, Van de Beek is even further down the midfild pecking order nowadays.
Heaton dons armband
Harry Maguire looks on as Tom Heaton leads Man Utd out as captain
The role of club captain has been under the spotlight all summer at Old Trafford, after Maguire was stripped of his duties as skipper.
As mentioned, Fernandes is now the captain and despite the fact that not he nor senior figures like Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane and Casemiro featured in this game against Athletic, Maguire still wasn’t given the honour of the role.
That instead was given to veteran goalkeeper Tom Heaton, who only made a handful of appearances in club competitions last campaign. If simply playing was a brutal reminder of how far Maguire has fallen, being overlooked for the armband was simply adding insult to injury.
