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Manchester United u19s took part at the 2024 Mladen Ramljak Memorial Tournament in recent days after making it to the finals in last year’s edition.
Falling to Robin van Perie’s Feyenoord last year, United looked to go one better this year and started out great with a 5-0 demolition of Udinese.
The goals were shared around in the first match with Jayce Fitzgerald, Bendito Mantato, Gabriele Biancheri, Jim Thwaites, and Douka Nkoto all getting their name on the scoresheet.
The strong performance continued into the second match in the group stage with a 4-1 victory over AS Trencin thanks to a brace from Biancheri and Thwaites and Fitzgerald also adding their second of the tournament.
The final group stage match saw United face SK Rapid Wien with the winner taking the spot in the finals after both sides won their opening two matches.
Always a tough opponent at youth level, this time was no different and Rapid Wien initially took the lead after capitalising on a mistake from Elyh Harrison.
In the second half, Biancheri was tripped up as he was about to latch onto a rebound to earn United a penalty. The Welsh striker stepped up to take himself and duly dispatched for his fourth of the tournament.
The match finished 1-1, which was enough to put United through to the finals with hosts Dinamo Zagreb.
A memorable encounter last year, the two sides met in the group stage where United came out 5-4 victors.
This year looked like it was going to be a goalfest again with Dinamo threatening from the first minute, forcing a big save from Harrison.
The home side took the lead in the 6th minute after Jaydan Kamason’s slide tackle saw the ball favourably bounce back to the winger to put a ball into the box for an easy finish.
Jacob Devaney pulled it back in the 22nd minute after Mantato laid it off to the edge of the box for the midfielder to run onto.
Dinamo retook the lead just before the break when Petar Andric took the ball on the turn and smashed the ball into the left corner which gave Harrison no chance.
After the restart, Thwaites made an instant impact from the bench to draw it level. Mantato beat his marker on the right wing before cutting back to Thwaites inside the area whose shot was deflected past the keeper.
After controlling much of the second half, a bitter blow was dealt by the clinical Dinamo side as they grabbed a winner with less than 10 minutes remaining.
United chased another goal to the dying seconds but couldn’t manage to bundle it home, seeing them fall in the finals of the Mladen Ramljak Memorial tournament for the second year running.
It was a great experience though, with a lot of football now in their legs, Adam Lawrence’s side look prepared ahead of their league campaign kicking off in three weeks time.
United squad: 1 Harrison, 2 Kamason, 3 Kukonki, 4 McAllister, 5 Armer, 6 Devaney, 7 Mantato, 8 T.Fletcher, 9 Biancheri, 10 Fitzgerald, 11 Baumann, 12 Mills, 13 Heath, 14 Thwaites, 15 Kaba, 16 B.Nkoto, 17 D.Nkoto, 18 Bradbury
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