Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick was delighted to give JJ Gabriel his first senior appearance as the Reds beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in Stockholm. The 15-year-old came on for the final ten minutes of the pre-season friendly.
Gabriel scored 29 goals for the Under-18s last season but was ineligible for the first team due to Premier League rules. He was named in his first senior squad for the clash with Rosenborg last week, but remained on the bench as United ran out 5-0 winners. Carrick reduced his squad to 23 on Friday, and Gabriel was picked to make the trip to Sweden.
Carrick on Gabriel's debut
After the match, Carrick told MUTV: "I think collectively we look strong as a team, which is always the most important thing. Pretty much throughout the team, I think there were really good performances. And again, seeing the young players coming on and having an impact, and Jimmy [Thwaites] and JJ coming on at the end, they are two younger players, again, [who get] their first kind of taste for it, for us, so it's great for us to be in a position for me to give them opportunities to the boys. And then on top of that, touch wood, no injuries. You know, it's always [about] getting the balance of how much do we push the players and how much do we save? At the moment, the boys are in a really good place."
How United fought back against Atletico
Arnau Ortiz opened the scoring early for the Spanish side as his curling effort evaded everyone and dropped into the corner. United reacted well to the setback and nearly equalised when Amad's deflected free kick was saved by Jan Oblak.
After the break, United continued to press and equalised from the penalty spot. Quick feet from Shea Lacey saw him win a penalty, which Bryan Mbeumo converted comfortably. Mbeumo then added his second when a loose pass was intercepted by Jack Fletcher, who sent the ball across the box for Mbeumo to tap in.
Carrick sees positives
"I thought there was a lot of good things that we're looking for and trying to improve on, and working on through the three weeks of pre-season, and building on what we did for the last six or seven months," Carrick continued. "I think there's a lot of good signs for us, and at this stage it’s not going to be exactly perfect, and there's always things we want to get better at. But I thought there was a lot of real positives individually and collectively as a team."
Up next for United
Next up for United is a clash with Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg next Saturday.
