Even without Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United defeated Melbourne Victory 4-1 on Friday at the MCG after falling behind early.
A crowd of 74,157 watched the English Premier League giants joyfully as the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial showed glimpses of their quality although there were enough gaps in the crowd to show it was well under the 95,446 who came to watch Liverpool take on the Victory in 2013.
Scott McTominay, Martial, and Rashford scored the goals for United and former Red Devils star Nani made his Victory debut in the final minutes after signing on as a marquee player for this A-League season.
The Victory will have won some new supporters after defending staunchly and scoring a well-crafted goal just four minutes in from Socceroos attacker Chris Ikonomidis.
New United coach Erik ten Hag has just started his tenure but he will have some concerns with the ease of the Victory’s goal although AUD$87.5 million (50 million pounds) defender Lisandro Martínez will hopefully improve that area when he joins the team after the tour.
Ronaldo remains on family leave and isn’t on tour with the Red Devils while also having a transfer request sitting with United management Spanish goal-keeper David de Gea wasn’t in the team at all after taking a knock in the pre-season clash with Liverpool in Bangkok earlier in the week with Tom Heaton donning the gloves.
Victory midfielder Jake Brimmer played 86 minutes and came away with Rashford’s shirt, a prize he had been chasing after the pair played against each other at the youth level when Brimmer was at Liverpool.
Brimmer said the opening goal was a sign of his side’s capabilities and they would only get better from here.
