International Champions Cup
Result: Manchester United 2-2 AC Milan (United won on penalties)
Date: 03 August 2019
Venue: Principality Stadium
Manchester United rounded off their pre-season with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory over AC Milan in the International Champions Cup on Saturday evening at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Ole Gunnnar Solskjaer made three changes from the side that edged Kristiansund 1-0 on Tuesday in their penultimate pre-season friendly match, as Marcos Rojo, Juan Mata and Andreas Pereira were handed starts, while Paul Pogba did not travel with the squad due to injury. The Italian side were seeing a lot of the ball in the early stages but United had the better impact with Marcus Rashford forcing a great save out of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma after unleashing a swerving strike from a diagonal angle. However, Rashford would not be denied in the 14th minute as he grabbed the lead for United with a fine low strike towards the bottom corner after weaving his way into the box from the left flank. The English giants did not enjoy their lead for long as Suso levelled matters for Rossoneri in the 26th minute with a neat finish from distance afte rgoalkeeper David De Gea gave away possession at the back. De Gea redeemed himself with six minutes remaining of the first stanza, keeping United in the game with a good save to keep out Krzysztof Piatek's header at the back post, following a whipping cross from Suso. Marco Giampaolo's charges started the second stanza on the front foot and they nearly went ahead five minutes after the break as Hakan Calhanoglu picked out Piatek inside the box but Polish striker scuffed his effort that was collected by De Gea. The Italian outfit finally grabbed a 2-1 lead on the hour-mark after Samu Castillejo's header took a wicked deflection off Victor Lindelof and wrong-footed De Gea. United made five changes thereafter while Milan brought three new faces, with the likes of Jesse Lingard and Daniel James, in his home country, having the responsibility to get the Red Devils back in the game. Lingard delivered for Solskjaer's men with 18 minutes remaining, as he made it 2-2 with a low left-footed finish, after combining with Anthony Martial inside the box. However, the English Premier League side could not find clear chances in the in the tail end of the match and the match went straight to penalty shoot-out, where United held their nerve to triumph 5-4.
