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 watched his side take the lead twice against AC Milan in Wroclaw, only to be picked apart 4-2 by a team coached by former United boss Ruben Amorim. For a tour that had largely felt calm and constructive, this was a harsh final note.
Bright spots in a bruising night
There were positives. Important ones.
Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez all made their first appearances of the summer. Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans got 90 minutes into their legs. The medical bulletin looked clean at full-time, which matters more than any friendly scoreline when the real stuff starts.
Mason Mount remains the one nagging concern. What was initially brushed off as a precautionary foot issue in Gothenburg a week ago has now sidelined the in-form midfielder for almost three full matches. Carrick can ill afford that to linger into September.
But results still shape the mood. And a 4-2 defeat to Milan, even in pre-season, even without VAR, will sting.
Three of Milan’s four goals came from close range. Those with access to replays were convinced at least one should have been ruled out for offside, but there was no technology in Wroclaw to save United. Instead, the scoreline swelled and the defensive questions multiplied.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek delivered the final blow, bursting beyond Martinez and refusing to be reeled in before drilling his finish past Senne Lammens. The young goalkeeper prevented the evening from becoming truly ugly; without him, the damage could have been far worse.
Structural cracks exposed
The pattern of Milan’s attacks told its own story. Every time they switched play to United’s left, the alarm bells rang.
Luke Shaw, on for the full 90, was repeatedly left with too much grass to patrol and not enough help. The distances between United’s defence and midfield were not huge, but they were big enough, and crucially, they were not covered with conviction.
After an impressive first five games of the summer, Andrey Santos endured the kind of afternoon that reminds everyone he is still learning this level. His inexperience showed in those transitional moments when Milan surged and United hesitated.
These are the clips Carrick will rewind on the flight back to Manchester. Not the goals his side scored, but the gaps they left, the chases they lost, the loose ends that a Premier League side will punish just as ruthlessly as Milan did.
“We are disappointed with today,” Carrick told MUTV. “We didn’t play very well. There are no excuses.”
No attempt to sugar-coat it, no attempt to hide behind the word “friendly”.
By October, few at Old Trafford will recall the details of a sticky night in Wroclaw. But one element of this game may yet define the closing weeks of United’s transfer window.
Rashford returns – but for how long?
With an hour gone, six substitutes stood on the touchline. Among them, Marcus Rashford.
His entrance was more than just another pre-season change. It was his first appearance for United since Viktoria Plzen away in the Europa League on 12 December 2024, the night after which Amorim effectively exiled him and sanctioned loans to Aston Villa and then Barcelona. At that point, few expected to see him back in United red.
Now he is back. For the moment.
Carrick spoke to UK media in Maynooth on Thursday and had ample opportunity to declare Rashford untouchable, a guaranteed part of his plans beyond 1 September. He did not do so. United officials, meanwhile, were quick to stress that the number nine shirt Rashford wore in Poland is not permanent, wary of supporters rushing to buy a jersey that may not last.
The 28-year-old did not look like a man weighed down by uncertainty. When he went out for his first warm-up, he acknowledged the warm reception from the United fans gathered in the corner he ran towards. Almost immediately, though, Samuel Chukwueze swept in Milan’s first equaliser at that same end, a reminder that the game itself had little interest in the subplots.
Rashford appeared late for his second-half warm-up compared to the other substitutes, but still found time for a few playful passing exchanges with Martinez – the pair World Cup semi-final rivals barely a month ago, now reunited in club colours.
Once introduced, Rashford hugged the touchline more than Patrick Dorgu, the man he replaced on the left. Dorgu had earlier joined Harry Maguire on the scoresheet for United, but their goals quickly faded into the background as Milan took control.
Rashford’s first real involvement ended with him conceding a foul, yet soon after he produced the kind of moment that has always electrified crowds: a sharp, brilliant piece of footwork by the corner flag, gliding past his marker and jolting thousands of supporters to their feet. It was a glimpse, not a manifesto.
As comebacks go, it was steady rather than spectacular. It didn’t need to be anything more. The real judgement will come when the games matter and the stakes rise.
Hull away, Ipswich at home. Those early Premier League fixtures will reveal far more about Carrick’s plans for Rashford – and about whether this reunion is a long-term revival or a brief, intriguing pause before the deadline brings a final decision.
