Manchester United drew 1-1 with Fiorentina in their final match of pre-season at Old Trafford.
The Old Trafford crowd went home happy though as United won the penalty shootout 5-4 in front of the Stretford End.
First Half
The match started slowly with the returning David de Gea receiving applause when he was on the ball early on in his own penalty box.
The first chance arrived after 4 minutes when Leny Yoro loosely gave the ball away to Moise Kean. He released Edin Dzeko who crossed in and luckily, Kean headed over the ball from close range.
United’s slow start continued and after eight minutes, Fiorentina got their noses in front. A corner was swung in and unbelievably Simon Sohm was left with the freedom of Manchester to sweep in a clean finish, giving Altay Bayindir no chance.
The Old Trafford crowd was shocked but Amad almost responded when he was released down the right hand wing but could only fire his shot wide of the goal.
Fiorentina had the better of the play but former keeper De Gea almost gave a present to his old side when he lost the ball to Mason Mount but no danger came of the chance.
United had their best chance moments later when Bryan Mbeumo swung in a delightful free kick that was nodded wide by Harry Maguire.
The Old Trafford crowd got what they wanted when Bruno Fernandes delivered a great ball to the backpost and Robin Gosens headed into his own goal whilst being put under immense pressure from Leny Yoro and Casemiro.
United had their tails up now in the Manchester sunshine and Amad and Mbeumo linked up well down the right but the Ivorian’s cross was blocked out for a corner.
The Old Trafford crowd was given a reminder over what they used to have when an excellent Mbeumo cross was well met by Yoro but it was fantastically stopped by De Gae from point blank range.
It was then Fiorentina’s return to attack when Dodo volleyed over from a difficult chance after 32 minutes of play in Manchester.
New signing Mbeumo grew into the game and he was once again firing great balls into the box but it was Ayden Heaven who headed straight at the keeper when he perhaps could have scored.
The game drifted a little bit and the first half came to an end with the two teams tied at 1-1.
Second half
The Italians started slightly better in the second half and Leny Yoro bravely blocked a shot from inside the box and consequently went down with a head injury.
United almost went 1-2 down when Kean broke away and after some good work, played a great ball into the box that was headed onto the crossbar by the goalscorer Sohm. The Swiss attacker was a regular threat and volleyed another effort into Heaven shortly after.
The home side responded when good pressing by Mason Mount led to Amad and Casemiro setting Bruno Fernandes up for a long range effort that failed to test De Gea.
The game drifted a little as the hour mark approached but Matheus Cunha almost changed that. The Brazilian spun and shot from distance and it just drifted wide of the post.
Moments later, Amad played a great ball into the box that was flicked on by Harry Maguire. Casemiro was left unmarked but missed a header when he really should have done better.
Old Trafford almost came to life when Maguire won the ball and lunged forward. He was invited to have a shot by the crowd and he obliged with a well-struck effort that De Gea did well to parry to safety.
Heaven went down with an injury which sparked a series of changes including Matthijs de Ligt, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo entering the field of play after 73 minutes.
United began to press for a winner and some nice play by Mount and Fernandes led to a cross that Cunha perhaps should have converted but it was well blocked. From the resulting corner, the ball was worked out to Fernandes who crossed to Cunha who headed across goal for Yoro to leap above the Italian defence. Sadly, he once again headed right at De Gea.
In the 86th minute, De Gea was subbed off and lapped up the devotion from the Old Trafford crowd as he departed in front of the Stretford End.
In the 90th minute Dorgu played a poor ball backwards that sent Kean through but De Ligt did well to put the former Everton striker under pressure. His resulting effort was dragged well wide for throw in for United.
Penalty shootout
As a result of the draw, the game went to penalties to decide who would win the Snapdragon Cup.
Kean converted the first penalty for the visitors but Bruno Fernandes responded in typical fashion, slotting the ball coolly home. Jacopo Fazzini responded by smashing the ball well into the top corner.
Cunha slotted home an incredibly casual effort to bring the scores level. Abdelhamid Sabiri kept the standard up with another great penalty whipped into the bottom corner.
Diogo Dalot responded and scored United’s third smashing the ball down the middle of the goal. Bayindir was inches from stopping the fourth penalty but Cher Ndour found the bottom corner with yet another excellent strike.
Amad then chipped in a panenka with an audacious chip down the middle of the goal to take the scores to 4-4.
Bayindir repeated his FA Cup heroics from last season by making a great stop from Fabiano Parisi, diving correctly to his left and stopping with his feet.
Local hero Kobbie Mainoo took his chance and rattled in an effort into the bottom corner in front of the Stretford End to win the Snapdragon cup for the Red Devils.
Starting XI: Bayindir, Amad, Yoro, Heaven, Maguire, Dorgu, Casemiro, Fernandes, Mbeumo, Cunha, Mount
Subs: Dalot, Shaw, Mainoo, De Ligt, Ugarte
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
