While Manchester United’s younger under-19 side is in the Rewe Junior Cup, the older side have also been to Germany for the Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup, where they have topped their group in the first round after three games.
against RB Leipzig
United’s first opponents were RB Leipzig, who looked extremely comfortable in the six-man format against a confident goalkeeper who spent more time on the midfield line than in his goal.
However, the overconfidence of the Leipzig goalkeeper nearly gave United a goal when the keeper attempted a spin in his own box past two United players and lost the ball, but was quick to pounce on him to win it back.
The Leipzig keeper was back in the action and tested Eric Hanbury with a long shot which the United keeper was quick to grab.
A turnover high up the pitch allowed James Nolan to find Ethan Wheatley in the box, but the Leipzig keeper leapt on the ball before Wheatley could fix his feet.
With the ball tight in the left corner against the boards, Ethan Williams slotted the ball into the box and Leipzig were unable to clear allowing Maxi Oyedele to crash through the roof of the net to give United the lead and the would-be winner. .
against Stuttgart
Next up was VFB Stuttgart and the game started with much more action when Wheatley hit the bottom of the left post in the first minute.
A miscommunication by Williams and Nolan saw Williams tip the ball past Nolan into the United box for the Stuttgart player to latch on and score.
However, Williams immediately made up for the mistake and blasted through two defenders and struck under the keeper to level him.
A back heel from Oyedele would send Wheatley into space on the left of the box to finish low and give United the lead.
Soon after, Williams would add his second when he cut inside to his left and hit low from close range.
In the second half, Stuttgart, looking for a comeback, opted to put an outfield player in goal and it paid off as they scored in 30 seconds. The makeshift goalkeeper, a natural defender in Tom Barth, played the assist in the box for a quick finish.
A minute later it nearly worked again when Barth plowed through four United players before parrying a shot that was saved well by Tom Wooster.
Barth was running the show in the second half with a low shot just inside the United half that hit the post, then Wooster’s back and out.
It was all of Stuttgart and after seasoning the goal they got into a loose ball in the area to tie.
But it only lasted a few seconds when Wheatley turned the defender in the box and pushed him against the post.
Sam Mather ran down the wing and took a deflected shot that was saved in the path of Jack Moorhouse to put him in the roof of the net and double United’s lead.
Moorhouse then played provider running down the left and switching Manni Norkett to finish past the makeshift keeper to end the match 6–3 for United.
against Galatasaray
The last game of the first round was against the Turkish Galatasaray.
The Turkish outfit scored an early goal with a long ball past the striker who was brought down past Eric Hanbury.
A dangerous ball into the box from Williams was nearly turned into Galatasaray’s goal by a defender seconds later, but the goalkeeper’s quick feet blocked it.
Galatasaray then added a second from a tight angle into the right corner, with a low shot past Hanbury after the goalkeeper gave the ball away on his clearance.
Seconds later there was a third. Jack Kingdon took the striker off the ball to gain possession, but then passed it directly to an opposition player in the box to touch the net.
In the second half, United resorted to the outfielder-in-goal method as Stuttgart had done before, with Sam Mather wearing a training number to mark himself as the goalkeeper.
Oyedele pulled a goal back when he dropped the keeper with a fake shot before flicking to his left and sending into the open net.
But it wasn’t enough as Galatasaray added another when Wooster failed to clear after a back pass, allowing the Galatasaray striker to run and steal the ball to finish the game 4-1 in favor of Galatasaray.
Despite the loss, United still topped their group to place them as the number one seed heading into the pre-finals later on Saturday, which can be watched live here.
