Manchester United beat Real Madrid 2-1 this evening in their final friendly in the United States. The exceedingly strange, and quite often miserable preseason USA tour is now over, but at least it ends it with a victory, the only one they achieved here without the need for penalty kicks. United will now fly home, and on Sunday, August 5 they will face Bayern Munich for their final friendly of the preseason.
Manager Jose Mourinho has been the lead story of this International Champions Cup, due to his incessant complaining about all that has gone wrong. However, all this will be water under the bridge if United start winning once the games actually count.
United went into halftime with a 2-1 lead, and here is a link to our news and notes items from the first half.
Let’s take a run through some other noteworthy items from this friendly.
–Eric Bailly was handed the captain’s arm band this evening, and you have to think that his “brave boy” performance in Michigan against Liverpool had something to do with that. Mourinho commended Bailly after the game for his playing through the pain, and helping the team so that they didn’t have to put all kids in the back line to face Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Happy 34th birthday to former midfielder and #31 Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Happy 34th birthday to FC Bayern and Germany legend Bastian Schweinsteiger! pic.twitter.com/ohaer5gZ1H
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) July 31, 2018
Happy 30th birthday to current midfielder, and the man who then took over the #31 shirt after Schweini left to join the Chicago Fire, Nemanja Matic.
Happy 30th Birthday, @NemanjaMatic #MUFC pic.twitter.com/AM5um7k6US
— RedReveal (@RedReveal) August 1, 2018
-Tonight at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, you saw big contributions from Alexis Sanchez, Juan Mata and Ander Herrera. Pencil all three players in as starters for the Premier League season opener versus Leicester City on August 10.
The opening goal was scored by Sanchez, who has been on the troubled tour since the second game, himself having to overcome travel visa issues. Spanish midfield duo Ander Herrera and Juan Mata have been there since the beginning and both were involved in United goals tonight.
Herrera played a part in the first score, while Mata helped create the second. Overall, it was very positive for the team to be able to fly home on a more upbeat note.
However, there is obviously a ton of work to do. The transfer window ends in eight days and the season will be here in just nine.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.