Manchester United vs Leeds United: Pre-Season Friendly Highlights
On a sweltering Dublin evening, with the light draining from a hot sky, Manchester United and Leeds United played out a pre-season friendly that felt like it belonged on a distant tour stop, not a short hop across the Irish Sea.
The football, though, was familiar enough: sharp touches, heavy legs, and just enough edge to hint at what might be coming when the real thing starts.
Zirkzee sharp, Leeds sliced open
The tone was set early. Diogo Dalot whipped in a fierce, low cross from the right, Joshua Zirkzee met it first time with his left foot, and James Trafford had to plunge down smartly to his right to turn it away. For a pre-season workout, that was plenty to warm Carrick’s bench.
Moments later, United turned up the heat. Bryan Mbeumo burned down the left, squared for Zirkzee again, and the forward did not hesitate. Another first-time hit, this one arrowed beyond Trafford to his right. Leeds had been torn apart, their right side – Jayden Bogle and Sebastiaan Bornauw – nowhere near the danger as United ripped through them with a move straight from the Carrick–Steve Holland training ground routines.
Daniel Farke’s shift to a 3-5-2 at half-time of that chaotic 3-2 win at Manchester City last November has been hailed as the tweak that saved Leeds’s season and his job. But the system has a darker side. When the wing-backs sink too deep, the back three becomes a flat five and the midfield thins out.
That is exactly what happened. Bogle and Rhys Chadwick dropped, Leeds retreated, and United poured forward again. Mbeumo, buzzing and relentless, had another effort that underlined the tactical problem: Leeds were stuck in reverse.
Leeds bite back
Just when United looked in control, Leeds finally pushed up. Ao Tanaka hurled a pair of long throw-ins into the box, forcing red shirts to scramble and hack clear. It was scruffy, but it dragged Leeds into the contest.
Then came the punishment for a rare lapse. Tyler Fletcher tried to wriggle away under pressure and was stripped of the ball by Dan James. The winger instantly flipped a cross into the area, and Brenden Aaronson arrived to guide a composed finish past Senne Lammens, who had no chance.
The game suddenly opened up. Mbeumo almost restored United’s lead with a thunderous strike that beat Trafford but crashed off the bar, the woodwork rescuing Leeds as substitutes lined up along the touchline for the second-half reset.
Before kick-off, Michael Carrick had already explained some of the absences. Marcus Rashford, Lisandro Martínez and Kobbie Mainoo, he said, “aren’t quite ready yet”, with United “preserving them” for the weekend meeting with Milan in Wroclaw. Mason Mount sat out as a precaution, Tom Heaton’s issue is still being checked, and Harry Maguire had only just rejoined training on Wednesday.
Mass changes, broken rhythm
“Tonight is going to be historical,” the stadium announcer had screamed before kick-off, selling this first ever meeting between two English clubs at the cavernous Dublin venue.
The half-time substitutions were less dramatic. Carrick removed Patrick Dorgu, Andrey Santos and the excellent Mbeumo, sending on Toby Collyer, 18-year-old debutant Daniel Armer and recent arrival Tynan Thompson – hardly the star power the capacity crowd craved.
Farke went even further. Ten changes, with only Bornauw staying on. The obvious question followed: how much would the game fall apart?
To Leeds’s credit, it did not collapse immediately. Harry Wilson and Alfie Cresswell both forced Lammens into action, stinging his palms and keeping the keeper honest. At the other end, Zirkzee’s footwork lit up the half, a slick dribble carrying him through on goal before the move broke down.
Then came another wave of disruption. Carrick made six more substitutions, including the introduction of his captain Bruno Fernandes, new £35m signing Youri Tielemans and Matheus Cunha, who took up the central role in a 4-2-3-1.
The effect was predictable: the tempo died. For a long spell, the contest drifted, more training session than competitive match.
Eventually, it flickered back to life. Lammens beat away a fierce drive from James Justin. Fernandes thought he had scored, only for the flag to go up. Later, the Portuguese playmaker clipped the bar with another effort, inches from deciding it in normal time.
Shootout drama and security worries
Before the end, the evening took an unexpected turn. Five young fans sprinted on to the pitch seeking selfies with Fernandes and Tielemans. A sixth followed. It looked innocent, but as a security breach it was worrying, especially with high-profile players on the field.
The Boyle Sports Cup had to be settled from the spot. United held their nerve, winning the shootout 5-4, with Noussair Mazraoui burying the decisive penalty. Players from both sides then drifted away into the Dublin night, leaving little in the way of firm answers about what their 2026-27 campaigns will look like.
United’s pre-season now reads: this win on penalties, a 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday, a 2-1 victory over Atlético Madrid, a 5-0 thrashing of Rosenborg and that jarring 1-0 defeat to Wrexham on 18 July.
Leeds’s summer ledger shows a 2-0 win against RB Leipzig, a 4-2 success over Liverpool, a 1-0 victory against Sunderland and a 3-2 loss to Wrexham on 26 July, followed by this defeat.
Farke’s side finish their preparations by hosting Augsburg. United head for Poland. Last season, United came third, 24 points clear of Leeds in 14th. With only Tielemans and Santos through the door as major signings so far, a repeat of that gap would not shock anyone in Manchester.
And if Leeds could cling to 14th again, with survival banked and the system bedded in, would anyone at Elland Road complain?
