Will Power

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Pre-season Friendly: Galatasaray 2 Man. United 5

Manchester United enjoyed the final game of Tour 2016, presented by Aon, in sunny Sweden as a superb second-half showing accounted for Galatasaray at the Ullevi Stadium.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit a wonderful early opener, only for Galatasaray to lead at the interval through Sinan Gumus and Bruma. Wayne Rooney scored twice, one from the spot, to turn the game on its head with Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata also finding the net. Antonio Valencia claimed three assists from the right-back slot while Marcus Rashford again illustrated his outstanding promise.

The early stages were all about Ibrahimovic, afforded a hero's welcome on returning to his homeland. He certainly justified all the attention by launching into an acrobatic bicycle kick to send Valencia's accurate centre bouncing past Fernando Muslera and into the corner of the net.

As the match played out to a soundtrack of an incessant drumbeat, United kept the rhythm going and Muslera was fortunate when his kick hit Ander Herrera but rebounded to safety. Despite rarely threatening up until that point, the Turkish side levelled when Wesley Sneijder swept over a free-kick conceded by Ibrahimovic and Sinan Gumus got his blond head to the ball to place it past David De Gea.

Suddenly, Galatasaray assumed control with De Gea forced to save from Sneijder and Yasin Oztekin. The keeper had no chance, however, when Bruma played a one-two with Gumus and curled in a beauty with five minutes remaining of the first half.

Half-time stats:
Possession: United 37% Galatasaray 65%.
Shots in total: United 3 Galatasaray 7.
Shots on target: United 1 Galatasaray 4.
Corners: United 4 Galatasaray 2.

After Jose Mourinho made five changes at the break, United, playing in the new white kit that is available to buy for the first time on Monday, began to dazzle. Skipper Rooney produced a sweet finish from Valencia's precise cross to the edge of the six-yard box after Rashford fed the Ecuadorian.

A couple of minutes later, Rashford showcased his frightening pace to race onto Rooney's through ball and beat Serdar Aziz. Although it looked like the defender would foul the teenager, instead it was Muslera who impeded his progress and Rooney stepped up to slam in the penalty, low under the keeper.

The Reds were now rampant and a neat move culminated in Valencia hanging up a cross for Fellaini to direct a looping header into the far corner of the net. De Gea had to keep out a clever Oztekin effort that lacked power but United were hungry for more goals and a fifth duly arrived on 74 minutes, shortly after five further substitutions by Mourinho.

Mata's swift turn allowed him to find Michael Carrick and, from a wide position, the midfielder picked out the Spaniard inside the box, enabling Mata to stretch to poke home number five with his left foot. There was no addition to the scoreline but the fans were more than pleased with seven goals and fabulous entertainment in Gothenburg.

Full-time stats:
Possession: United 46% Galatasaray 54%.
Shots in total: United 9 Galatasaray 8.
Shots on target: United 6 Galatasaray 5.
Corners: United 6 Galatasaray 3.

United: De Gea (Romero 67); Valencia (Memphis 67), Bailly (Rojo 67), Blind (Jones 67), Shaw (Darmian 67); Schneiderlin (Carrick 46), Herrera (Fellaini 46); Mkhitaryan (Lingard 46), Rooney (Mata 67), Martial (Young 46); Ibrahimovic (Rashford 46). Sub not used: Johnstone.

Galatasaray: Muslera, Linnes, Chedjou, Hakan (Aziz 46), Carole, Selcuk (Altintop 46), Dzemaili, Yasin (Ismail 85), Sneijder (Emrah 76), Bruma, Sinan (Sabri 85). Subs not used: Cenk, Eray, Salih, Gokay, Birhan, Donk.


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