he was dismissed late on after a second booking<\/a>. It felt a harsh way to conclude Lacey\u2019s senior breakthrough after he had shown bursts of pace, technique and wiry strength. In Stockholm, supporters were given their strongest reminder of the 19-year-old\u2019s potential.<\/p>\nLacey, playing as an attacking midfielder behind Mbeumo, was United\u2019s brightest spark in the first half. Despite his diminutive frame, he used his speed to great effect to wriggle free of markers, turn into space, and drive United up the pitch. He produced lovely pieces of skill, the best being a touch with the outside of his right foot to free himself of defenders and create space to whip in a cross that Mbeumo could not quite turn home. It was his quick feet that won Mbeumo\u2019s penalty shortly into the second half. He was withdrawn on 73 minutes having given an excellent account of himself.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2288586065-scaled-e1785601552916.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Shea Lacey sends over a cross against Atletico Madrid (Ash Donelon\/Manchester United via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But that performance came predominantly from the position that usually belongs to Bruno Fernandes, the team\u2019s talisman and captain. It is hard to see Lacey carving out significant minutes there. He can also play on the right wing, but again faces competition from Mbeumo and Amad.<\/p>\n
Lacey could seek a loan to build his physicality and play regular first-team minutes. However, he is also a regular member of the under-21s setup, and could opt to stay put in the hope that more opportunities to integrate with the first team come up. This will be a longer season for United, and after his pre-season performances, it is easy to imagine Michael Carrick wanting to keep Lacey around.<\/p>\n
Mbeumo\u2019s game of two halves<\/p>\n
After Ortiz\u2019s whipped ball to the back post drifted all the way in after six minutes, the onus was on United to open this friendly up.<\/p>\n
Their forward line, while they strung together a few smart moves and mustered eight shots, ultimately suffered from their lack of a focal point. With Joshua Zirkzee on the bench, Mbeumo was tasked with leading the line and initially struggled to carve out opportunities to unleash his finishing.<\/p>\n
Atletico kept the final third congested, and the Cameroonian found himself constantly under pressure as he sought to run onto through passes from Andrey Santos, Mason Mount, or Lacey. The lack of space to run into evidently frustrated him: half an hour in, after losing possession in the final third and committing a foul in his efforts to keep the attack going, he let out an agitated yell.<\/p>\n
The second half brought far more joy. Mbeumo is at his best with space to pick out a finish, and a foul on Lacey afforded him the chance to do so from the penalty spot. He sent Atletico\u2019s substitute \u2018keeper Salvi Esquivel the wrong way to equalise shortly after half-time.<\/p>\n
Twenty minutes later, substitute Jack Fletcher ghosted past two Atletico defenders and into the box. Mbeumo timed his run well to arrive unmarked and had a simple poacher\u2019s finish past Esquivel to win the game.<\/p>\n
Neither is a goal for his highlights reel \u2014 but after a frustrating first half in which he struggled for impact, the second was a welcome display of smash-and-grab finishing that saw him open his pre-season account.<\/p>\n
How did JJ Gabriel perform in his first senior appearance?<\/p>\n
At 15, it is remarkable to consider the idea that JJ Gabriel has been \u2018made to wait\u2019 for his debut. But the level of anticipation in Stockholm when he emerged on the touchline showed how strong the desire to see him in the senior team has been.<\/p>\n
Gabriel was brought on in the 82nd minute, and his first action was to receive a pass and immediately have a defender barrel through his back and win a free kick. Second was some neat control near the right-touchline, drawing acclaim from the crowd, and a brief carry forward. His first foray into the box ended in a blocked shot after the ball became stuck underneath his feet; his second, after a smart give-and-go with Leny Yoro, was more promising but ended with him bundled to the floor. He scarcely joined in with the crowd\u2019s brief penalty appeal.<\/p>\n
There were no real surprises: excellent technique, pace, little if anything in the way of one-on-one defence, and a slight physique that needs plenty of development to cope with senior football.<\/p>\n
No real surprises \u2014 except, of course, the fact that a 15-year-old played for Manchester United and plenty of the 25,132-strong crowd in Stockholm will have already known his name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United notched up their second win of pre-season, overcoming Atletico Madrid 2-1 in Stockholm on Saturday afternoon.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[16625,751,131,132],"class_list":["post-140865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-manchester-united","tag-premier-league","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117043456519713782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}