Marcus Rashford returns as Manchester United fall 4-2 to AC Milan
2 sources · United Kingdom
Who reported this
- BBC News
- The Telegraph
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every source for this story reports from United Kingdom.
Manchester United lost 4-2 to AC Milan in their final pre-season match in Wroclaw. The defeat comes one week before United's Premier League opener against Hull City. Marcus Rashford made his first appearance for the club since December 2024 after loan spells at Aston Villa and Barcelona. Rashford entered the game as a substitute and wore the number nine shirt, though club officials stated the number is not permanent. Other notable returns included Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez, while Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans played the full 90 minutes.
Manchester United led twice during the match, with goals from Harry Maguire and Patrick Dorgu. However, AC Milan, led by former United manager Ruben Amorim, secured the win with four goals. Three of those goals were close-range efforts, and one was contested as potentially offside. Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored the final goal after beating Martinez. Manager Michael Carrick admitted after the match that the team did not play well and offered no excuses for the result.
Analysts noted several tactical issues during the match. United struggled when Milan switched play to the right, leaving Luke Shaw with too much space to cover. Additionally, the inexperience of new signing Andrey Santos was exposed, and gaps between the defense and midfield were not adequately covered. While the center-leaning source framed the result as a set of issues for Carrick to resolve before the season, the center-right source framed the loss as United being humbled by their former manager.
How each side framed it
- Centre
- The center-leaning source focused on the tactical deficiencies and the logistical details of Rashford's return.
- Centre-right
- The center-right source emphasized the embarrassment of the defeat by highlighting that the team was humbled by Ruben Amorim.
Sources
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.