Manchester United's Pre-Season Ends with 4-2 Defeat to AC Milan

Manchester United’s pre-season ended with a jolt they could have done without.

A week out from their Premier League opener at promoted Hull City, Michael Carrick’s side twice went in front against AC Milan in Wroclaw – and still contrived to lose 4-2 to a team coached by former United boss Ruben Amorim. A friendly on paper, but the scoreline will linger longer than the club would like.

Bright returns, nagging questions

There were positives. Real ones.

Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez all made their first appearances of the summer. Captain Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans got 90 minutes into their legs. Across six pre-season games, United have largely avoided serious damage on the injury front, with one notable exception: Mason Mount’s foot problem, picked up in Gothenburg a week ago. Initially brushed off as precautionary, it has now ruled out the in-form midfielder for almost three full matches.

Carrick can at least fly back to Manchester knowing there are no new fitness scares. The issues lie elsewhere.

Results, even in July and August, shape the mood. A 4-2 defeat to Milan, with three of the goals coming from close range and one looking suspiciously offside to those watching replays – there was no VAR in Wroclaw – is not the kind of storyline any manager wants on the eve of a new campaign.

The final blow summed it up. Ruben Loftus-Cheek surged past Martinez, shrugged off the chase and drilled his finish beyond Senne Lammens. Without the goalkeeper, the score could have been uglier.

Structural cracks exposed

The pattern of Milan’s attacks will concern Carrick as much as the numbers on the scoreboard.

Whenever the Italians switched play to their right, United struggled. Luke Shaw, on for the full 90, repeatedly found himself with too much grass to patrol and too little protection. The gaps between defence and midfield were not huge, but they were left uncovered just enough for Milan to exploit.

After an encouraging first five games of pre-season, this was also the afternoon when Andrey Santos’ rawness was laid bare. The recent signing has impressed in patches, yet here he looked like what he is: a talented midfielder still adjusting to the demands of this level.

Carrick did not sugar-coat it.

“We are disappointed with today,” he told MUTV. “We didn’t play very well. There are no excuses.”

The analysis on the flight home will be blunt. How does he tighten those spaces? Who protects the full-backs? Which midfield combination starts at Hull?

Rashford’s quiet reintroduction

Amid the defensive chaos, one subplot may yet define United’s final weeks of the window.

On the hour, Carrick turned to the bench and sent on Marcus Rashford as one of six substitutes. It was his first appearance for his boyhood club since a Europa League trip to Viktoria Plzen on 12 December 2024. After that night, Amorim effectively banished him, and the forward disappeared on loan – first to Aston Villa, then to Barcelona, from where few truly expected him to return.

His future still hangs in the air. When Carrick faced UK media in Maynooth on Thursday, he had ample chances to publicly confirm Rashford would stay beyond this month. He did not take them.

Inside the club, officials moved quickly to stress that the number nine shirt Rashford wore in Poland is not a permanent change, wary of misleading supporters ready to buy new jerseys. Everything about the situation feels temporary.

On the pitch, though, Rashford looked at ease. During his first warm-up, he jogged towards the corner and acknowledged the warm reception from United fans. Seconds later, at that same end, Samuel Chukwueze swept in Milan’s first equaliser.

Rashford stayed out longer than most of the substitutes for a second-half warm-up, sharing a few passing tricks with Martinez – the pair who had been on opposite sides of a World Cup semi-final just a month earlier.

When he finally came on, he operated wider than Patrick Dorgu, the man he replaced on the left. For the record, Dorgu and Harry Maguire were United’s scorers in this final tune-up before the real thing starts.

Rashford’s first run ended with a foul conceded. His second meaningful involvement, a sharp piece of footwork by the corner flag, took him past his marker and drew a roar from the stands. It was a reminder of what he can still offer, without being any kind of grand statement.

As reintroductions go, it was steady rather than spectacular. It didn’t need to be more than that. The real judgments will come soon enough.

Carrick’s next decisions

Once the dust settles on Wroclaw, this game may fade from memory at Old Trafford. Pre-season thrashings often do. What will not fade is the sense of a manager still weighing up big calls.

Premier League trips to Hull and then a home date with Ipswich will reveal how Carrick truly sees his squad. Who partners Martinez at the back. Whether Santos is trusted from the start. How Rashford fits, if he fits at all.

The transfer deadline on 1 September will bring clarity. For now, United leave Poland with defensive doubts, a bruised scoreline, and a returning forward whose story at the club still feels like it could go in any direction.