Leeds United 1 Manchester United 1: Whites lose 5-4 on penalties after 90-minute draw — YEP 12/8/26

-

By Kyle Newbould

Leeds United fell to defeat from 12 yards after a 1-1 draw in normal time.

Leeds United lost 5-4 on penalties to Manchester United following a 1-1 draw in Dublin on Wednesday.

Brenden Aaronson was on the scoresheet for Leeds but missed penalties from Harry Wilson and James Justin proved costly. It was just a second pre-season defeat for Daniel Farke’s side.

James Trafford was handed an unofficial debut at the sold out Croke Park as one of six changes from RB Leipzig on Saturday. The goalkeeper, Rhys Chadwick, Jaka Bijol, Ao Tanaka, Aaronson and Lukas Nmecha replaced Alex Cairns, Justin, Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu, Wilson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Leeds struggled to create anything of note through the opening 15 minutes and then conceded in the 16th, with Bijol coming up short. The Slovenian lunged into a tackle on halfway but missed Bryan Mbeumo entirely, the Manchester United winger racing forward and passing to Joshua Zirkzee for a simple finish.

Trafford then denied Mbeumo with a great save down to his left from around 12 yards after another dangerous attack from Michael Carrick’s side. But it was a mostly defensive effort from Leeds during the opening exchanges, with a front three of James, Aaronson and Nmecha looking disjointed.

That was until the 29th minute when Aaronson levelled with Leeds’ first shot on target. A lengthy clearance from Trafford bounced off Nmecha and James pounced on the loose ball, driving forward before squaring it to his American teammate for a simple finish similar to Zirkzee’s.

Mbeumo was causing Leeds a lot of problems and via a Bijol deflection, crashed an effort off the crossbar shortly before the 40-minute mark. But the score remained level going into half-time and Farke rang the changes during the break.

Only Sebastiaan Bornauw remained from the first-half team with his 10 starting teammates all removed. Alex Cairns, Joe Rodon, Alfie Cresswell, Willy Gnonto, Ethan Ampadu, Anton Stach, Justin, Wilson, Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were introduced.

Wilson forced a good save from Senne Lammens early in the second-half after a near identical move to Calvert-Lewin’s goal against RB Leipzig. Rodon again burst into the final third and crossed for his Welsh compatriot, whose well-directed effort was blocked by the Manchester United goalkeeper’s foot.

A quiet second-half followed, with the next decent chance falling to Calvert-Lewin on 69 minutes. Rodon flicked a long Ampadu throw to the back post but his striker teammate couldn’t quite stretch far enough to make good contact.

Okafor looked sharp and twice burst beyond opposition defenders in quick succession, although neither run forced a big chance. Justin did force a good save from substitute goalkeeper Dermot Mee from the edge of the box after another long Ampadu throw fell his way.

Manchester United hit the crossbar for a second time with five minutes remaining, this time through Bruno Fernandes from close to 25 yards. Full-time was called in unusual fashion after an invasion of young fans onto the pitch forced the referee to blow early, with a penalty shootout on the cards.

Calvert-Lewin, Stach, Gnonto and Okafor scored tor the Whites but Wilson’s effort was saved and Justin cracked the crossbar. Fernandes rolled wide for Manchester United but Noussair Mazraoui scored the winning spot-kick.

Leeds now have just shy of three days to prepare for their final pre-season friendly at home to FC Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. The Whites then kick off their 2026/27 Premier League campaign away at Nottingham Forest on August 22.

Popular posts from this blog

Leeds United reveal three-man shortlist as they eye major striker signing — trio have a combined 19 Premier League career goals — Leeds Press 3/5/25

-
Image
by Kwadwo Hemeng Leeds United are playing in the Premier League next season. But with the transfer window coming up, there are still some questions about the squad that need to be answered. Starting striker Joel Piroe has been first choice over the last two seasons. And he has delivered, scoring over 35 goals. But in recent weeks, Leeds’ rumoured moves show that there may be doubt over his ability heading into the Premier League. Over the last month, the club have been linked with George Hirst, and more recently Celtic star Daizen Maeda. Wrexham are also said to be very interested in signing Patrick Bamford this summer, so Leeds will definitely sign a new striker. TEAMtalk are reporting that Leeds United have drawn up a shortlist of strikers for the summer. It includes two current Premier League players, and a former Tottenham star. But surprisingly, the trio have just 19 career goals in the competition. Whichever of them the club decides to sign will have a big say in survivin...
Read more

Why Leeds United are ready to break transfer record on £40m 'moonshot' James Trafford — YEP 28/7/26

-
By Kyle Newbould When Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe spoke about transfer ‘moonshots’ last month it was in the context of attacking targets - but goalkeeper James Trafford might prove the biggest moonshot of the summer. Leeds are on the verge of completing a deal for the Manchester City goalkeeper that will be worth £40million plus add-ons. It will be a club-record transfer by some margin, eclipsing the £35.5m spent on Georginio Rutter back in January 2023. Trafford will also strengthen his status as the most expensive English goalkeeper ever, having already been so following his £31m move from Burnley a year ago. City signed Trafford to be their No.1 but an opportunity to land Italian international Gianluigi Donnarumma - widely regarded as one of the world’s best goalkeepers - could not be passed up. Opportunities were therefore limited for the 23-year-old but he still impressed when called upon. Trafford played 17 games for Manchester City across all competitions, which...
Read more