Manchester United won’t get their Premier League campaign underway this weekend after they were given an extra week to recover from their Europa League exploits.Ole Gunnar Solskajer’s side reached the semi-finals of the competition before their defeat to Sevilla on August 16.Therefore, United’s opening fixture against Burnley was postponed to allow them sufficient rest.While the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool got their Premier League campaign underway with victories, Man Utd lined up in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Aston Villa.Villa were set to play Manchester City this weekend but, like United, they were also given an extra week off.United fielded a fairly strong line-up that looked like this: Dean Henderson; Diogo Dalot, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Scott McTominay, Donny van de Beek, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Daniel James; Odion Ighalo.
Despite that strong starting XI, the Red Devils fell to a 1-0 defeat thanks to Villa’s new signing, Ollie Watkins scoring the only goal of the game.
However, United’s best moment of the match came inside the opening two minutes.
That’s because Rashford turned into prime Ronaldinho.
The forward received the ball inside the penalty area and produced an outrageous flip-flap that nutmegged his defender. He then pulled the ball back for Van de Beek, who lost possession.
It may not have resulted in a goal but it was sublime from Rashford.
Van de Beek did actually produce a tidy piece of skill himself during the match.
However, Watkins’ header was the difference between the two sides as the former Brentford striker lost Harry Maguire to score.
United will be looking to improve ahead of next weekend’s clash against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.
Palace got their season off to a good start with a win against Southampton on Saturday and will pose United a threat.
Rashford might need to produce a few moments of magic to get his side off to a winning start.