Real Salt Lake 1 Manchester United 2: Lukaku opens his account as Valencia sees red

Romelu Lukaku scored his first Manchester United
goal as the Premier League giants made it two
wins from two pre-season matches after
overcoming Real Salt Lake 2-1.
A £75million signing from Everton, Lukaku debuted
in the 5-2 victory against LA Galaxy last week, but
the Belgium striker opened his account in Salt
Lake on Monday.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan slotted the ball across to
Lukaku, who saw off two defenders and rounded
the goalkeeper before steadying himself and firing
a 39th-minute strike into the net.
It was not all smooth sailing for United, who had
substitute Antonio Valencia sent off with 22
minutes remaining after RSL put Jose Mourinho's
men on the backfoot for much of the first half at Rio
Tinto Stadium.


Phil Jones and United struggled to cope with RSL's
pace as Luis Silva gave the hosts a surprise 23rd-
minute lead, but Mkhitaryan restored parity six
minutes later and the Armenian star turned
provider for Lukaku before half-time.
Attention will now turn to Sunday's International
Champions Cup clash against LaLiga and
Champions League titleholders Real Madrid in
Santa Clara.
United reverted to a back four for in Salt Lake, after
deploying a 3-5-2 formation against the Galaxy.
New signing Victor Lindelof came into the starting
XI to partner Jones – who retained his position –
as Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Daley Blind occupied
the full-back positions. Joel Pereira replaced
goalkeeper David de Gea, while Paul Pogba, Lukaku
and Mkhitaryan were included in the line-up.
Aside from Scott McTominay's early attempt,
which flashed just wide of the post, it was a
difficult start for United. Led by Silva and Joao
Plata, RSL's pace down the flanks caused
problems, with young keeper Pereira kept busy.
If not for Jesse Lingard's goal-saving tackle, it
would have been 1-0 RSL after the United attacker
thwarted Plata just as he was about to slot the ball
past Pereira in the 19th minute.
RSL – ninth in the 11-team Western Conference
and four points adrift of the MLS play-off positions
– did get the goal they deserved four minutes later,
when a perfectly-weighted through ball found Silva,
who outpaced Jones with ease and poked the ball
beyond Pereira.
That sparked United into action as Mkhitaryan
equalised just shy of the half-hour mark. Lukaku
linked up with Lingard and the Englishman played
a neat one-two before teeing up Mkhitaryan for the
finish.
Jones and his partners in defence were provided
some relief when RSL replaced their entire XI after
30 minutes.
And United benefited from the wholesale changes
six minutes before the break – Lukaku breaking
the offside trap, beating two defenders, rounding
Rimando and firing the ball into the net.

As expected, United fielded a completely different XI
in the second half, with Sergio Romero, Matteo
Darmian, Valencia, Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly,
Andreas Pereira, Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini,
Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford
introduced.
The second 45 minutes was not as free-flowing
and gave Mourinho headaches more than anything
else.

First, Mata hobbled off the ground due to a leg
injury after signalling to the bench before the hour-
mark – replaced by Demetri Mitchel.
Valencia was then bizarrely sent off for a late
tackle from behind on Sebastian Saucedo. The
referee initially awarded a foul and spoke to the
United full-back before brandishing a red card.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, United
should have sealed the win in the 78th minute, but
Smalling headed over the crossbar with an empty
net at his mercy.
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