Manchester United made it three victories out of three in pre-season under new manager Erik ten Hag, beating fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace by three goals to one in front of a packed crowd in the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 19.
Ten Hag’s United continued to impress during their pre-season tour of Australia. A 3-1 convincing win over Palace complemented a 4-0 win over Liverpool in Bangkok and a 4-1 success against local team Melbourne Victory – even if it was marred by a late red card to academy graduate Will Fish.
The Red Devils took an early lead through the in-form Anthony Martial. Back with his parent club following a half-a-season loan spell with Sevilla, the striker took his record to three goals in three during pre-season.
The Frenchman opened the scoring at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the 17th minute, chesting down a clipped pass by right-back Diogo Dalot inside the box and smashing it past the goalkeeper with a thumping volley.
United doubled their advantage three minutes after the restart through Marcus Rashford, the Englishman putting the finishing touch to a well-worked team move. On that occasion, Jadon Sancho got things running with a threaded pass in between two defenders to Martial. The Frenchman rounded the goalkeeper but ran beyond the ball, which was squared across the box by Donny van de Beek for Rashford to tap in.
Fifty-nine minutes in, the Red Devils added another to their tally. With a sweeping back-to-front move, ten Hag’s side carved through their opponents, and Sancho applied the finishing touches at the other end.
Crystal Palace pulled a goal back through stalwart Joel Ward, who powered his header past David de Gea in goal. However, the last notable action of the game involved a United player. The youngster Fish, on as a substitute, was given his marching orders for bringing down his marker as the last man.
Manchester United’s tour of Australia will conclude with a friendly against Aston Villa in Perth (Jul 23). Ten Hag’s team will fly to Oslo to play Atletico Madrid (Jul 30) next and return to Manchester to take on Rayo Vallecano (Jul 31) on the eve of the new season.
