Manchester United managed a creditable 1-1 draw with the European champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in a Gothenburg friendly on Saturday but the result was overshadowed by an injury to Mason Mount.
The England midfielder, who joined United from Chelsea in 2023, has been hampered by injury problems since arriving at Old Trafford and he lasted fewer than 20 minutes after starting against PSG.
Mount, 27, appeared to suffer a foot injury in Sweden and, after discussions with coaches on the touchline, left the field to be replaced by Tyler Fletcher. Mount has been restricted to 54 league appearances – many of them as a substitute – during his first three seasons with United.
His side were 1-0 down to PSG at the time of his injury, having gone behind in the second minute through an Ibrahim Mbaye goal even though the French giants were missing many of their star players.
But Bryan Mbeumo equalised in the 32nd minute when Amad Diallo played him in after winning the ball back.
There were more injury concerns for United early in the second half when their 40-year-old goalkeeper Tom Heaton suffered a right hamstring problem while rushing out to make a clearance.
Mbeumo might have doubled his tally but for the fine form of PSG’s Matvey Safonov but the goalkeeper left the pitch to jeers after escaping punishment for clattering into Joshua Zirkzee way outside his area – an incident that may well have led to him being punished in a competitive match.
There were late chances for Fletcher, Shea Lacey and the captain, Bruno Fernandes, who linked up well with new arrival Youri Tielemans in an encouraging sign for the United manager, Michael Carrick.
“I enjoyed it,” Carrick told MUTV, United’s in-house television station. “Good challenge. Slightly different with the way they play. We should’ve scored more goals.
“It’s good for the boys sometimes to have to problem-solve and find their own way and I thought we did that. That prepares them for the season as well. In that respect there were a lot of things that maybe people don’t always see that we were quite happy with. There were some good signs there.”
United have two more friendly fixtures, against bitter rivals Leeds in Dublin on Wednesday and AC Milan in Wroclaw three days later, before launching their Premier League campaign away to newly promoted Hull on 22 August.
