Sport

Man Utd edged out in pre-season friendly as Sam Smith scores winner for Wrexham

18 Jul 2026 3 minute read

Manchester United’s Jack Fletcher, left, and Wrexham’s Nathan Broadhead fight for the ball during the pre-season friendly between Manchester United and Wrexham AFC, in Helsinki. Photo Markku Ulander/Lehtikuva via AP

Ian Parker, Press Association, Helsinki

Wrexham claimed an impressive 1-0 pre-season victory over Manchester United in Helsinki as Sam Smith’s first-half strike proved decisive.

Smith scored the only goal with an easy finish six minutes before half-time, moments after heading against his own crossbar defending a corner.

United were without the players who have featured at this summer’s World Cup – including new signing Youri Tielemans – as well as Benjamin Sesko, but Michael Carrick put out a strong starting XI in front of 20,000 spectators in the Finnish capital.

Santos, who became United’s first summer signing when he joined from Chelsea at the start of the week for an initial £48million, took his place at the base of midfield alongside Mason Mount.

Speaking just before the match, Michael Carrick had praised the 22-year-old’s attitude, saying: “He’s settled in really well, he’s a fantastic character. He’s settled in so quickly and he’s buzzing to be here, you can see that.”

The Brazilian’s first involvement was to clear the ball away after Tom Heaton failed to gather under pressure from Smith seconds into the game.

Santos was left on his backside by Lewis O’Brien eight minutes in but the chance came to nothing for Wrexham as the flag went up.

More encouraging was his sliding block on O’Brien moments later and he soon settled in, showing a good range of passing and winning several duels in a busy display.

However, Phil Parkinson’s side, who played their first pre-season friendly against Wisla Krakow in Poland last weekend, were looking brighter and threatened again when Bailey Cadamarteri nicked the ball off Ayden Heaven on the edge of the box before the defender recovered.

United’s first chance was a Joshua Zirkzee shot that fizzed wide in the 24th minute and they almost went ahead when Smith tried to clear a corner but instead sent a header on to his own crossbar in the 36th minute.

Moments later Smith was on the scoresheet at the other end and it looked all too easy as he was left with a tap-in after O’Brien’s cross appeared to go through Harry Maguire’s legs.

Academy products

Twenty one of the 22 players were replaced at half-time, with only Wrexham’s Aaron James staying on, and Carrick sent out a side entirely composed of academy products, facing a decent test against a Wrexham side now including the likes of Conor Coady and Kieffer Moore.

United dominated the ball but struggled to fashion chances as the pace of the game dropped. Instead, Wrexham threatened with a low shot from Davis Keillor-Dunn but Radek Vitek made the save.

When Ethan Wheatley prodded Harry Amass’ cross goalwards in the 78th minute, it was their first shot on target but Dan Ward made the save before holding a low drive from Shea Lacey.

Dan Gore hit the deck in the single minute of stoppage time but his optimistic penalty appeal was waved away.

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