Joao Felix produces late winner as Atletico defeat Manchester United in Norway
July 30,2022
Joao Felix came off the bench to fire Atletico Madrid to another pre-season victory on Saturday afternoon, as the Spanish side defeated Manchester United 1-0 at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway
However, Manchester United had the better chances and they started very well, with Marcus Rashford testing Jan Oblak inside the opening 10 minutes, before Anthony Martial blasted one over and Reinildo had to be alert to deny Martial at another opportunity.
Oblak was involved again throughout the first half, clashing with Scott McTominay to spark a mini brawl that saw both players booked and saving a shot from Anthony Elanga that was straight at the Slovenian before half time.
It was a feisty encounter, at least for a pre-season game, and there were five bookings in total in the goalless first half.
But, the start of the second period was tamer and there was little action in either final third, before the usual raft of pre-season friendly match substitutions around the hour mark – which saw Christian Eriksen come on for his Manchester United debut.
Just minutes after coming on, the Dane was already looking impressive, almost setting up Elanga for the opening goal with a nice cross before the 70-minute mark.
Harry Maguire then came close to turning in another cross from Eriksen, this one from a corner, but the centre-back headed just wide.
Manchester United were then left to rue those missed chances, as Atleti substitute Joao Felix found enough space to fire in to the bottom corner from the edge of the area in the 87th minute.
A second yellow was shown to Fred for a challenge shortly after the Atletico Madrid goal, leaving the 10 men of Manchester United to fall to a 1-0 loss in Oslo
