Manchester United women booked their place in the final of the inaugural World Sevens tournament by beating local rivals Manchester City 2-0.
The Red Devils finished top of their group after wins over AS Roma, SL Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage.
United started brightly, and Simi Awujo had the first effort on goal but ballooned her shot from an acute angle.
Leah Galton hasn’t scored yet in the tournament but she almost opened her account when she charged down a clearance but could only drag her effort wide.
United did not need to wait much longer to get their noses in front however, as on four minutes Melvine Malard scored with a world-class strike.
The French forward expertly controlled a long ball up the pitch and instantly turned to rifle an unstoppable effort into the top corner. United have scored some great goals so far in Portugal but this could have been the pick of the bunch.
Marc Skinner’s side almost instantly doubled their lead but Elisabeth Terland’s strike was well blocked by the keeper.
City had plenty of the ball but failed to get past a water-tight United defence. Just before the half-time break, Awujo had a shot from distance parried away by Khiara Keating.
Both sides struggled to carve out many clear-cut chances at the beginning of the second half until the 24th minute.
Galton broke free of the City defence and teed up Grace Clinton, but the usually deadly finisher rattled the crossbar when she really should have scored.
Nonetheless, United responded in the best way possible and Gabby George’s great solo goal gave them a 2-0 lead with just five minutes to play.
The defender raced down the touchline and beat the City player for pace and strength. She kept her composure and dinked the ball past Keating to put United in the driving seat.
Skinner’s side largely kept their opposition at bay until the 29th minute when Poppy Pritchard fired an effort wide after breaking free from the United defence.
That was to be the last attempt of the game and it would be the team from the red half of Manchester that would make the final.
United will take on Bayern Munich later on tonight, hoping to have better luck than they had in the FA Cup final last weekend against Chelsea.
ONE, TWO, THREE: TEAM! ❤️#MUWomen || #WorldSevensFootball pic.twitter.com/RhISiLIXRA
— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) May 23, 2025
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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.
