Euro 2016 winning winger Nani made his debut as a substitute for Melbourne Victory as the A-League Men club faced-off against Manchester United in a friendly match on Friday night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The former United man couldn’t save Victory from a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of the Red Devils, but nonetheless his presence was met by excitement from everyone present at the arena.
Tony Popovic’s Victory had taken a shock lead in the 5th minute after Chris Ikonomidis managed to fire home past Tom Heaton in the United goal, however a quickfire salvo from Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial gave Erik ten Hag’s side the advantage coming into half-time.
United captain Harry Maguire once again became the weak link for his side as he was outpaced by former Perth Glory man Ikonomidis as they went after a Ben Folami cross, with Ikonomidis easily hitting the ball first-time to give Victory the lead.
McTominay then drew things level for United in the 43rd minute with an incredible chip from outside the area that took a deflection before flying over Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo’s head and into the goal, before Martial gave the Red Devils the advantage in the first minute of stoppage-time with a finish from point-blank range.
Ten Hag rang the changes for the second half with a heavily rotated squad, the likes of Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Martial, Luke Shaw, and Jadon Sancho going off and being replaced by Marcus Rashford, Donny van de Beek, new signing Tyrell Malacia, and youngsters Zidane Iqbal and Tahith Chong among others.
The much-changed United squad still proved to be too much for Victory and Rashford extended the Red Devils’ lead in the 78th minute, latching onto an Eric Bailly through ball before rifling home past an incoming Izzo who had ran out of his goal.
Nani was then introduced in the 88th minute, with Popovic bringing him in to replace Jake Brimmer. The 35-year old was met by cheers from both United and Victory fans as he came on, having been an influential figure in United’s history from 2007 to 2015 where he had won four Premier League titles and a Champions League.
However, there was little that Nani could do to salvage the match for his new team as a shot from Chong was deflected into Izzo’s goal by Victory youngster Edmond Lupancu, effectively sealing the win for United.
Victory weren’t the only A-League Men side who played a friendly against European opposition, as on Thursday Brisbane Roar fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Leeds United in Gold Coast. The Roar will take on another Premier League side in Aston Villa in Townsville on July 20th.