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Mkhitaryan, Lukaku help Man United beat Real Salt Lake

Manchester United came from behind to make it two wins from two in pre-season, with Romelu Lukaku scoring his first goal for the club in a 2-1 success over Real Salt Lake at the visually-stunning Rio Tinto Stadium.

The Reds started brightly in the new black adidas kit as Scott McTominay twice fired shots at goal, but the home side took a shock lead when Luis Silva met a through-ball from Jefferson Savarino to prod past Joel Pereira, prompting an explosion of noise and ticker tape from the jubilant local supporters.

Parity was soon restored thanks to Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s left-footed shot that flew into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the penalty area. It was the Armenian’s second goal of the tour following his second-half strike in the 5-2 win over LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center two days earlier.

With a Major League Soccer match against Portland Timbers to come on Wednesday, Real Salt Lake made 11 changes on 33 minutes and United took the lead shortly after through new signing Romelu Lukaku, who scored his first goal for the club after meeting a fine pass from the sharp Mkhitaryan.

Jose Mourinho made 11 changes at half-time, but one of those – Juan Mata – was forced to come off with an apparent injury shortly before the hour mark. Antonio Valencia was then shown a straight red card following a challenge on Sebastian Saucedo, much to the manager’s dismay on the touchline.

Aside from Luke Mulholland and Kyle Curinga missing chances to equalise for the hosts late on, United saw out the match in comfortable fashion and flew back to Los Angeles with another good workout in the bag.

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