Substitute Angelo Henriquez spared a strong Manchester United side’s blushes with an equaliser in the Premier League champions’ 1-1 friendly draw with AIK in Stockholm.
GettyImagesAngelo Henriquez celebrates his strike for Manchester United with Ryan Giggs.
Henriquez, who spent the latter half of last season on loan with Wigan, tapped into an empty net from Wilfried Zaha’s cross to cancel out Robin Quaison’s superb strike just after half-time.
It had been an even match prior to the opener – with AIK striker Kennedy Igboananike wasting several chances in particular – although United dominated after falling behind.
Martin Kayongo-Mutumba’s defence-splitting pass put the Nigerian clean through on goal midway through the first half but Igboananike could only fire straight at United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
Robin van Persie should have put United ahead soon after, but his point-blank shot was straight at AIK goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos.
United’s defence was opened up once again although to their credit, they forced Igboananike wide of goal and is denied once again by Lindegaard, who was replaced at half-time by Ben Amos.
One of the substitute’s first tasks was to pick the ball out of the back of the net after Quaison turned his marker and sumptuously fired into the helpless Englishman’s top corner in the 49th minute.
David Moyes’ men have been a little below-par in the pre-season matches thus far, with two wins from five matches, although they responded strongly, with Nemanja Vidic heading down into the pitch and off the crossbar from Ryan Giggs’ corner.
And the visitors were level in the 68th minute after Zaha’s low cross on the right side of the penalty area was comfortably slotted home by Henriquez at the far post.
United continued to dominate proceedings although Van Persie, celebrating his 30th birthday on Tuesday, wasted a golden opportunity to seal victory late on when his free header went wide.
Manager Moyes was slightly frustrated by the result but was happy with the workout, as well as seeing star striker Van Persie and club captain Vidic play for the full 90 minutes.
“He (Vidic) was probably the big thing tonight to get him through – and Robin as well for 90 minutes. We wanted to make sure he had 90 minutes under his belt,” the former Everton boss told MUTV.
“It was a tough enough workout for us, they played some good stuff for a period, but if we’d have taken our chances, I think we’d have won the game.”
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.
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