Late Joao Felix goal sees 10 man Man Utd lose

Man Utd's penultimate pre-season fixture ended in defeat after Joao Felix's late goal for Atletico Madrid in Oslo. Erik ten Hag's men were the better side in the contest, but failed to convert several opportunities. In the closing stages, Joao Felix was played in Alvaro Morata and he made no mistake past De Gea. United's afternoon ended in frustration as Fred was dismissed for a second yellow for kicking out at Morata.

The Dutchman fielded a full strength team for this one with the exception of Cristiano Ronaldo and United got off to a fast start which saw them dominate the opening 15 minutes. Rashford tested Oblak at his near post and then Martial should have scored after five minutes after a misjudgement from Gimenez, but he hit over the bar. However, the game gradually changed.

Chances started to dry up and Diego Simeone's men picked up. In the 15th minute, Yannick Carrasco's free-kick was not dealt with and Angel Correa failed to hit the target. That said, there were very few goalscoring opportunities in the first 45 and tensions were running high. After McTominay charged into goalkeeper Jan Oblak, there was a fight which led to both players seeing yellow. 

The half ended with Elanga being denied by Oblak after being played in by Rashford while Kondogbia headed a corner wide at the other end, but 0-0 was a very fair score. 

 

July 30, 2022

In the second period, it did not look like there would be goal early on and so it proved. Atletico changed almost their entire team in the 60th minute with the exception of Oblak and Reinildo whereas Man Utd just made gradual changes from time to time. Eriksen, Malacia and Van de Beek came on for the final 20 minutes and that made United much more dangerous. 

Malacia ran forward in the 74th minute and got into the box before firing narrowly over the crossbar while Harry Maguire inexplicably headed wide an Eriksen corner from six yards out despite being completely unmarked. With seven minutes to go, Rashford and Pellistri both had opportunities to score and Man Utd's wastefulness ended up being punished. 

Man Utd lost the ball in their own half, Atleti countered at pace through Morata and he laid off for Joao Felix who beat David de Gea to his right. It was a lead Atletico Madrid did not deserve, but Man Utd had plenty of chances to win the game beforehand and did not take them. The goal was a bitter blow to United and frustration got the better of them in stoppage time as Fred, who had already seen yellow, was sent off. He kicked Alvaro Morata twice from behind and then jumped on the Spaniard's chest with his studs showing in a clear act of violent conduct.

Norwegian referee Espen Eskas decided just to punish the first offence and Fred was given his matching orders for a second bookable offence. It was a disappointing result for Erik ten Hag's men who will have to improve in front of goal once the Premier League campaign begins. However, there were positives to take from the game, especially the performances of Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen. Erik ten Hag's men have one final friendly on Sunday against Rayo Vallecano and Cristiano Ronaldo will be the star attraction at Old Trafford.