THE VERDICT: UNITED 1 REAL MADRID 1 (2-1 PENS)
THE Levi’s Stadium provides mesmeric views of the foothills and mountains of Diablo Range in the distance and inside the San Francisco 49ers’ arena Anthony Martial produced one of the most devilish pieces of football the stadium has hosted.
Martial had threatened to do something significant in United’s previous matches by bringing spectators towards the edge of their seat and in Santa Clara they rose to their feet. Martial left Lucas Vazquez, Dani Carvajal and Luka Modric facing different directions like disturbed cricket stumps to provide the lively Jesse Lingard with a tap-in.
Lingard finished a similarly marvellous move in this stadium against European champions Barcelona two years ago, but this moment belonged to Martial.
His team-mates mobbed him and, amid spurious speculation surrounding his future and United’s Ivan Perisic pursuit, Martial needed to remind Jose Mourinho just why Louis van Gaal sanctioned up to £58m to sign him from Monaco two years ago.
How unfortunate that Martial’s afternoon ended with a miss during the needless penalty shoot-out.
It should not taint an otherwise mature performance and Martial is the only specialist winger in a squad where Ashley Young is injured and primarily used at full-back, while auxiliary options Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Andreas Pereira prefer to play centrally.
Perisic is 28 and excelled for the seventh-placed side in Italy last season. Martial is just 21 still and carried a United squad on the brink of mutiny during Van Gaal’s first season, and Mourinho is refusing to jettison him after one inconsistent campaign which featured untimely injuries and domestic issues that compromised his focus. Martial’s momentum was such that Mourinho kept him on for the second half as he made eight changes. Two of those withdrawn at the break Eric Bailly and Phil Jones - were the outstanding performers on the pitch and Bailly, a £30m addition a year ago, might be on the cusp Samuel Luckhurst of world-class recognition. Jones’ chances of partnering him for the season opener against West Ham in just under three weeks’ time are also auspicious.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Andreas Pereira were deliberately picked against eminent opponents like Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric and acquitted themselves confidently.
The first half was, until Martial’s surge, so mundane some fans attempted to start the maligned Mexican wave.
Martial motored inside on eight minutes and fed Lingard to test Keylor Navas, who repelled the effort unconvincingly.
Lingard has started all four games so far on tour and his importance is increasing, something Mourinho acknowledged by granting him a breather for the second 45. Madrid also made changes at the break and it only became excitable when Victor Lindelof idiotically fouled Theo Hernandez in the 68th minute and Casemiro scored.
Substitute Scott McTominay provided the perfect centre for Marouane Fellaini to finish diabolically as the game meandered to a draw and an awful penalty shoot-out, which United won 2-1 after SEVEN spot kicks were missed between the two sides. United’s afternoon was further blemished by Ander Herrera’s withdrawal after just six minutes through injury.