Jose Mourinho revealed before this game that David de Gea would be staying at Manchester United after Real Madrid pulled the plug on a deal to sign the Spain goalkeeper.
But De Gea offered the European champions a timely reminder of what they are missing out on with a series of heroics in an otherwise lamentable penalty shoot-out. Only three of 10 penalties were converted, with De Gea saving from Mateo Kovacic and Oscar. Casemiro, whose spot-kick had cancelled out Jesse Lingard’s goal in regulation time, had to score Real’s fifth shoot-out penalty but rattled his shot against the crossbar and over.
Mourinho had been prepared to let De Gea leave after making it clear he will not hold players against their will in the belief that their performance level only dips. But with Real struggling to fund a move for the £125 million-rated Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe and a £60 million bid for De Gea, the Spanish giants opted to withdrawn from negotiations for the United goalkeeper who, for another season at least, will remain at Old Trafford.
Real’s loss is United’s gain. No-one will read too much into a penalty shoot-out in a pre-season game but Mourinho is satisfied De Gea is more focused than ever, not least because of the level of competition being provided by Sergio Romero.
For all the pre-match talk about De Gea, though, the story looked like being about Anthony Martial, who teed up Lingard for United’s goal with a majestic piece of skill, or at least it was before the France forward ballooned his penalty in the shoot-out high over the crossbar. Mourinho will just hope Martial does not blow hot and cold next season.
It is hard to think of a player who disappointed more often last season for United than Martial. There were occasional flashes of the talent that had electrified Old Trafford during an impressive debut campaign but, for the most part, he flattered to deceive and Mourinho made no attempt to conceal his frustration. Martial, the manager said, could not keep blowing the chances afforded him. He had to start applying his undoubted talent on a consistent basis. There were off-field issues to take into consideration – an acrimonious split with the mother of his daughter – but he was a pale imitation of the player who made light of that head-spinning £61.6m fee United paid Monaco to sign him.
Mourinho, then, can only hope that the sheer wizardry from Martial that put a goal on a plate for Lingard here in United’s fourth game of their pre-season tour of the US serves as a taster of things to come from the 21 year-old, and not the subsequent penalty miss. Inter Milan are thought to harbour interest in taking Martial on loan, in the event Croatia winger Ivan Perisic leaves for Old Trafford, but it is hard to believe United would give any serious consideration to such a proposal. Aside from the fact that they are already light up front – Martial, Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku are Mourinho’s only strike options – the Frenchman has the ability to be a serious player for United next term.
That will have been abundantly obvious to anyone who witnessed Martial’s wonderful piece of skill on the cusp of half-time that had the 65,109-strong crowd at the Levi’s Stadium jumping out of their seats after a fairly lacklustre game up to that point. There were three people around Martial when he picked up possession on the left side just outside the penalty area. First Lucas Vazquez attempted a challenge but Martial slipped away from him before slaloming in and out of Daniel Carvajal and Luka Modric – hardly two mugs – with the sort of fleet-footed-brilliance most commonly associated with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, the master of wriggling out of tight spaces.
It was the next bit that will have pleased Mourinho, though. The temptation must have been to shoot but as Raphael Varane closed in, Martial had the presence of mind and awareness to side-foot a pass into the path of Lingard to tap in.
He was not the only United youngster who equipped himself well. Lingard has been one of United’s brightest sparks in pre-season and was lively again, scoring but also forcing a good save from Keylor Navas and going close with another effort. And Andreas Pereira, who spent last season on loan at Granada, suggested he would be more than capable of doing a job for Mourinho in central midfield at a time when he is struggling to bring in the targets he wants.
Pereira is a technically-gifted player with a strong range of passing and good awareness.
He has traditionally been a more attacking midfielder but he spent much of last season in Spain playing in a deeper midfield role and he could prove a useful option if attempts to entice Nemanja Matic from Chelsea fail.
It was not all good news for Mourinho. Ander Herrera hobbled off only seven minutes after coming on at half-time with a suspected hip injury and joins Juan Mata on the treatment table, and new signing Victor Lindelof committed a hare-brained challenge on Hernandez to concede a penalty in the 69th minute that was comfortably dispatched by Casemiro past De Gea. Lindelof had also been at some fault for both of the goals United conceded in their 5-2 win over LA Galaxy in their opening tour game in Los Angeles.
Marouane Fellaini, whose clunky style contrasted starkly with some of the slick technicians on show in the Real ranks, also passed up a glorious opportunity to win it for United when he ballooned the ball horribly wide from six yards after a fine cross from Scott McTominay six minutes from time was crying out to be slotted home.
Real had changed their entire XI at the interval and the irony is that Zinedane Zidane’s youngsters fared better than the galaxy of first-team stars who had begun the game. Karim Benzema had been kept on a tight leash by Phil Jones and Eric Bailly, Timothy Fosu-Mensah performed well against Gareth Bale and Modric and Toni Kroos never really got into their stride, although this was Real’s first game on their own tour of the US. But Dani Gomez and Luis Miguel Ouezada were lively for Real in the second half and only an impressive reaction save from De Gea kept out Quezada’s free-kick. He was also Real’s nemesis in the shoot-out. -Telegraph
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