Manchester United caught the eye on Thursday morning by beating Real Betis 3-2, here are five things we learned from the game.
Manchester United have continued the tour of the United States in the early hours of Thursday morning with victory over Real Betis.
After going behind, United responded excellently, drawing level from the spot through Marcus Rashford, after Amad Diallo’s dribbling drew a foul.
Amad then scored a goal of his own with an immense finish after Harry Amass‘ cross to make it 2-1.
United made it 3-1 in the 31st minute through Casemiro as he struck from close range. The scores stayed this way until Betis pulled another back in the 61st minute.
Amad Diallo is quickly becoming a superstar
Last season the star of Amad began to rise and since then it’s not stopped as he has been the standout player so far during pre-season. Amad scored his second goal of the tour with an excellent left-footed finish in the first half and also won the penalty for Rashford’s penalty strike, while an assist or two could have also been his. A truly sublime footballer and this coming campaign could be huge for him.
Harry Amass impresses again
Starting a second game on the bounce, Harry Amass continued to prove he deserves every minute of game time he gets with a strong outing. On the ball, there is little doubt he is ready to play at this level with some exciting moments including how he created Amad’s goal. Impressively Amass was also really good in defence as he won all his duels and proved a formidable opponent for the Betis winger – aside from the moment he fell asleep for the first Betis goal.
Casemiro back at his best
Criticism of Casemiro often came quite easily over the past year as he struggled in midfield and looked miles off the pace which has led to the need for midfield reinforcements this summer. But against Betis, Casemiro rolled back the years as he dominated the midfield while also getting onto the scoresheet. He showed positive signs which led to him becoming a fan favourite in his debut campaign.
Another solid performance for United
Pre-season has seen results be a mixed bag, although in every game there have been some impressive features in United’s performances. In the first half in particular of both US tour games, performance levels have been very high and Erik ten Hag seems to have solved some of the biggest issues with his United side from last season. This bodes well heading into the season, but we will reserve judgment until we see how United perform once the real games begin.
Marcus Rashford builds some confidence but limps off
- READ MORE: Who is Marcus Rashford? Inside the life of Man Utd’s book-writing, government-tackling ace
All pre-season we have been waiting for Rashford to show something impressive to show he was ready to bounce back from last season, and against Betis he did just that. Rashford got his goal with a penalty and then also assisted Casemiro’s goal. Other than this, the United star did really well and contributed to many of the good things the Red Devils did. He did end up limping off the pitch, but it looks more like a impact knock rather than an injury.
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