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Sunday 10 August 2025 13:00
Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir made a crucial penalty save to help deliver the Snapdragon Cup in our final pre-season game of the summer.
The Old Trafford meeting against Fiorentina got to the end of the 90 minutes level courtesy of a Simon Sohm opener and a Robin Gosens own goal, so penalties were needed to separate the two sides.
With each side having scored all four to that point, La Viola’s Fabiano Parisi stepped up and powered an effort to Bayindir’s right, but the Turkish gloveman dived the right way and got a strong hand to the shot to deny the Italian substitute.
It laid on the perfect opportunity for Kobbie Mainoo to seal the win with our fifth penalty, and that’s precisely what he did, delivering the pre-season silverware following Bayindir’s assistance.
Bayindir: We have to be a team Video
Bayindir: We have to be a team
INTERVIEW | Altay Bayindir speaks to MUTV about his penalty heroics, pre-season and our Premier League opener…
“Yeah, it’s a good feeling,” Bayindir told MUTV after the game. “Very good feeling, when you can save from the penalty, when you’re feeling you can help your team, it’s a great feeling.”
It’s not an unfamiliar experience for the goalkeeper, either, having kept out Martin Odegaard’s spot-kick in our FA Cup trip to Arsenal in January, before providing the same service against Kai Havertz in the following shootout, with the game level to that point.
Coincidentally, attention now turns back to the Gunners again following the Fiorentina outing, as they provide our first Premier League opponents next weekend.
“For us, it doesn’t matter which team we will play,” Bayindir continued. “Every game is important in the Premier League. This week, we will work for Arsenal, and then from the Arsenal game, step by step for the next game, we will prepare ourselves.”
Our game against the Italian visitors wraps up a productive pre-season which also took in three games across the Atlantic and a trip to Sweden to face Leeds United, a journey which the gloveman believes has helped United.
He said: “If you want to be a team, you have to be all players, all staff, together. You have to work, everyone together.
“In America, we did these things. We’re still doing these things; everyone together.
“At the moment, we have very good energy. We want to keep this energy.”
Highlights: United v Fiorentina Video
Highlights: United v Fiorentina
HIGHLIGHTS | Watch our concise recap from United’s final pre-season outing of the summer, against Fiorentina…
Bayindir is in no doubt how important our committed fans our in maintaining that good energy around the club.
“The season will start next game, and our team is ready for every game now,” the goalkeeper stated. “We have to be everyone together on the pitch.
“We will fight for our fans. They have to support us always, from the media, from the Old Trafford stadium, everywhere.
“They’re already doing these things, and it’s very important energy for us when we are feeling they’re all behind us.”
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Sunday 10 August 2025 13:00
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