Manchester United Faces AC Milan Reality Check in Pre-Season
Manchester United’s last dress rehearsal for the new Premier League season turned into a warning siren, as a ruthless AC Milan ripped through Michael Carrick’s side after the break.
For a couple of minutes, it looked ideal.
Harry Maguire powered United in front inside 120 seconds, climbing above his marker to meet a Bruno Fernandes corner and thump a header home. It was the kind of start that usually settles a team, the kind that suggests a controlled evening, a tidy tune-up, a quiet flight home.
Milan had other ideas.
They grew into the game, then seized it. In the 37th minute, Goncalo Ramos combined sharply with Samuel Chukwueze, and the winger drilled in the equaliser. One incisive move, one lapse, and United’s early authority evaporated.
United still had the chance to tilt it back their way before the interval. Fernandes, usually so composed from the spot, struck his penalty firmly, but Milan’s goalkeeper read him and beat it away. Instead of walking off 2-1 up, Carrick’s players trudged in level and slightly rattled.
The second half briefly hinted at a reset. Patrick Dorgu pounced on a dreadful back-pass from Filippo Terracciano, intercepted with intent and restored United’s lead. It should have settled them. It didn’t.
From there, United’s defensive structure simply fell apart.
Chukwueze began to torment the right side of Carrick’s back line. Cross after cross, run after run, he dragged them out of shape. The pressure told when Alphadjo Cisse drifted in unmarked at the far post to make it 2-2, punishing static defending as Chukwueze again carved them open.
United wobbled. Milan went for the throat.
Chukwueze then turned provider once more, picking out Ramos to nod Milan in front for the first time. The turnaround felt inevitable by that point. United’s right flank looked exposed, and Milan kept going back to it like a favourite play.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek delivered the final blow, surging into that same vulnerable channel and finishing to make it 4-2, sealing a dominant Milan performance and a bruising night for Carrick.
The scoreline stung, and Carrick did not sugar-coat the display.
“Today, we’re disappointed with it. We didn’t play well today,” he admitted afterwards. “There are reasons for that and we need to improve. Some of the boys were playing their first minutes. Different reasons – but no excuses. We didn’t play very well.”
The defeat in Poland lands at an awkward time, just days before United open their Premier League campaign away to Hull City on August 22. The flaws were clear: a fragile defensive shape, especially on the right, and a team that lost its grip once Milan turned up the tempo.
Yet this collapse comes at the end of a pre-season that has not been disastrous. Before Milan, United had shared a 1-1 draw with Leeds United and won on penalties, held Paris Saint-Germain 1-1, and edged Atletico Madrid 2-1. There have been signs of structure and control. Milan, though, stripped away any illusions about how much work remains.
Carrick, for his part, kept his gaze fixed on the bigger picture.
“Overall, we are ready for next week. A lot of the boys will be better off for the minutes,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work on the training pitch, the performances in the games have been pretty good. We’re still in good spirits going into next week.”
The night was not without positives. Marcus Rashford stepped back onto the pitch in a United shirt for the first time in 20 months, entering on the hour mark wearing the No. 9. His last appearance for the club had come in December 2024, in the early days of Amorim’s Old Trafford tenure. Here, his return, alongside minutes for Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo, underlined the depth of attacking and midfield options at Carrick’s disposal.
That depth only sharpens the battle for starting spots as Hull looms. Up front and in midfield, Carrick has choices. At the back, he has questions.
“We’ve got a good squad. There are decisions to be made. Of course it is,” he said. “We’ve got another week’s training to get ready for next week. There’s a whole different feeling when it’s the first league game of the season. We will be there.”
The message is clear: the Milan defeat cannot bleed into the Premier League. United’s attack looks stocked, the squad looks competitive. Now Carrick has seven days to prove that the defensive collapse was a pre-season jolt, not a preview of what’s to come.
