Manchester United's Pre-Season Ends with Defeat to AC Milan
Manchester United’s pre-season ended with a jolt and a warning.
A week out from their Premier League opener at promoted Hull City, Michael Carrick’s side twice led AC Milan in Wroclaw and still contrived to lose 4-2 to a team coached by former United boss Ruben Amorim. The scoreline looked bad. The manner of it looked worse.
Bright spots in a bruising night
There were positives, and not insignificant 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. Across a six-game pre-season that has largely felt controlled and encouraging, United have also emerged without any obvious new injuries.
The exception remains Mason Mount. What was brushed off as a precautionary foot issue in Gothenburg seven days ago has now sidelined one of United’s sharpest performers for almost three full matches. His absence was felt again here.
Results, though, shape mood. A 4-2 defeat to a high-class Milan side in a friendly is not fatal to anything, yet it feeds a narrative that Carrick will not enjoy as he boards the flight back to Manchester.
Defensive cracks exposed
Three of Milan’s four goals came from close range. Without VAR in Wroclaw, those watching replays were convinced at least one should have been ruled offside, but that does little to disguise the structural problems United showed.
Time and again, Milan found joy when they switched play to United’s left. Luke Shaw, asked to patrol the entire flank, often had too much grass to defend and too little help. The gaps between defence and midfield were not enormous, but they were not protected with the intensity required.
Andrey Santos, so impressive across the first five friendlies, found out what a step up in class looks like. His positioning and decision-making were tested, and at times exposed, by Milan’s movement between the lines.
The final blow came when Ruben Loftus-Cheek simply ran away from Martinez, surged clear and drilled past Senne Lammens. The goalkeeper had already prevented heavier damage; the fact he still conceded four tells its own story.
Carrick did not dress it up.
“We are disappointed with today,” he told MUTV. “We didn’t play very well. There are no excuses.”
Rashford returns – but for how long?
Strip away the scoreline and one moment still carried real significance: the sight of Marcus Rashford stepping off the bench on the hour.
This was his first appearance for his boyhood club since Viktoria Plzen away in the Europa League on 12 December 2024. After that night, Amorim effectively banished him, and Rashford’s career splintered into loan spells at Aston Villa and then Barcelona. Few expected to see him back in a United shirt.
His future remains unresolved. When Carrick spoke to UK media in Maynooth on Thursday, he had ample chance to confirm Rashford would definitely stay beyond this month. He chose not to. Inside the club, officials were quick to brief that the number nine shirt Rashford wore in Poland is not permanent, wary of supporters rushing to buy a jersey that might not last.
On the pitch and around it, Rashford 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. Seconds later, Samuel Chukwueze swept in Milan’s first equaliser at that same end. It was that kind of evening.
Rashford emerged later than most of the substitutes for his second-half routine, yet still found time for a few playful passing exchanges with Martinez – the defender who had been his opponent in a World Cup semi-final only a month earlier.
Once introduced, Rashford held a wider starting position than Patrick Dorgu, the man he replaced on the left. Dorgu, along with Harry Maguire, had earlier found the net for United in what should have been a confidence-boosting tune-up. Instead, it turned into a reminder of how fragile control can be.
Rashford’s first real involvement ended with him conceding a foul, but he soon produced a sharp, twisting run by the corner flag, gliding past his marker and jolting the crowd to its feet. It was a glimpse, not a statement. Solid, not spectacular. For a reintroduction, it was enough.
Questions before Hull, and beyond
Once the season settles into its rhythm, few at Old Trafford will dwell on a chaotic night in Wroclaw. Pre-season defeats are rarely referenced if August and September go well.
Yet this game may still linger in one crucial respect. The defensive looseness, Santos’ harsh lesson, the sight of Rashford in a United shirt again but with his long-term status unresolved – all of it feeds into decisions that must be made before the transfer window closes on 1 September.
Hull away, then Ipswich at Old Trafford, will reveal more about Carrick’s true hierarchy and tactical plan. The deadline will do the rest. By the time it passes, Rashford’s situation – and United’s direction – will no longer be a matter of warm-ups and hints, but of hard choices finally made.
