Manchester United made it two preseason wins in a row on Saturday, edging Atl\u00e9tico Madrid 2-1 at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm in a match that offered Michael Carrick several useful signs. The result itself may matter less than the context, but against strong opposition and with a competitive lineup, United had enough to take from the performance.<\/p>\n
Bryan Mbeumo was the decisive figure. After Shea Lacey was fouled in the area, the Cameroon international converted a penalty in the 53rd minute. He then struck the winner 21 minutes later, reacting quickest to a deflected ball in the box, resisting pressure from the goalkeeper and lifting a close-range finish into the roof of the net. It was a reminder that his influence went well beyond the two goals.<\/p>\n
Mbeumo looked lively throughout, registering the joint-most shots on the pitch while also creating chances and sending in dangerous crosses. His pace, direct running and willingness to commit defenders repeatedly unsettled Atl\u00e9tico, a side widely recognised for its defensive discipline. If he sustains that level, there is reason to expect a far stronger 2026-27 than his debut campaign.<\/p>\n
Mason Mount also delivered a noteworthy performance. For a player whose United spell has been interrupted by injuries and inconsistency, he was heavily involved, creating three chances, playing 13 passes into the final third, completing four accurate long balls and finishing with a 100% dribble success rate. He also added three important defensive actions, even if his work in physical duels was less convincing.<\/p>\n
Shea Lacey continued to strengthen his case for more involvement under Carrick. Used as United\u2019s No. 10, the 19-year-old pressed aggressively, worked tirelessly without the ball and remained a constant threat in attack. He also handled the physical side well against a demanding Atl\u00e9tico side.<\/p>\n
Carrick is still not selecting his strongest XI, and this was another experimental lineup, but the display still gave him several encouraging individual performances to consider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mbeumo scored twice as United beat Atl\u00e9tico, with Mount and Lacey also impressing in Stockholm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1035,1083],"tags":[1836],"class_list":["post-18166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atletico-madrid","category-man-utd","tag-2026-27-premier-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}