Manchester United were denied a fourth
consecutive pre-season victory as they ended their tour of the United
States with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the
International Champions Cup in Chicago.
Louis van Gaal's side started the game at Soldier Field
Stadium - home of NFL's Chicago Bears - the better of the two sides but
fell behind on 25 minutes when Blaise Matuidi capitalised on hesitancy
among the United rearguard to score against the run of play.
Zlatan
Ibrahimovic orchestrated PSG's second 10 minutes before half-time,
initiating a counter attack before steering Maxwell's pin-point cross
beyond David de Gea from close range.
And those two strikes proved to be enough for the Ligue 1 champions as
they signed off on their tour of the United States by pipping United to
the International Champions Cup crown.
United had been aiming to maintain their 100 percent record after
registering wins over Club America, San Jose Earthquakes and European
champions Barcelona in their three previous games.
However, United
were undone by two goals from PSG which highlighted the defensive
frailty of Louis van Gaal's squad, which has been bolstered by several
high-profile signings this summer.
United began promisingly, handling PSG's high-press game in the opening exchanges and knocking the ball around comfortably
New signing Memphis Depay was presented with the game's first real
opening after Wayne Rooney picked him out on the edge of the box on 16
minutes, but the Dutchman fired a wild shot wide of Kevin Trapp's goal.
United
had the ball in Trapp's net on 22 minutes, but Juan Mata's calm finish
after collecting Daley Blind's through ball was ruled out for offside.
And
three minutes later, PSG had opened the scoring. An aimless long ball
up field caused havoc in the United backline, with neither Phil Jones
nor Luke Shaw able to prevent Matuidi poking the ball beyond the
on-rushing De Gea.
It was two nine minutes later when Ibrahimovic
rounded off a well-worked counter attack - which he had started himself -
to double the Ligue 1 side's lead.
Having picked up the ball in midfield, Ibrahimovic ran at the United
back four, slipped the ball to Maxwell on the left wing before ghosting
in between Jones and Blind for a simply finish.
Van Gaal freshened
his side up at the interval, with Morgan Schneiderlin, Andreas Pereira
and Sam Johnstone coming on at the break.
The youthful exuberance
of the new additions had an effect momentarily, with United starting the
second half strong, but this was soon addressed by PSG manager Laurent
Blanc.
The inclusion of Marquinhos and David Luiz added solidity
to the PSG defence and United struggled to create anything clear-cut as
the French champions clinched the pre-season tournament.
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