Malacia continues to shine

The new signing, who became Ten Hag’s first capture at the beginning of July, showed undeniable coolness against combative opposition at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. 

Malacia set the tone early with a confident escape from danger in his own box during the opening minutes. Aware of Diego Simeone’s tactics to aggressively press from the front, Malacia freed himself and played an excellent pass to Bruno Fernandes, who set Marcus Rashford away for the first chance of the game. 

The rapid transition from back to front caught Atletico napping on multiple occasions in the first half, with Anthony Martial wriggling his way into good shooting positions during a lively start.

Malacia stepped into midfield as United converged on the opposition, smartly dragging the Rojiblancos away from Rashford, whose pace proved a constant irritant for Simeone’s defence. He instinctively burst beyond the English forward at times, hitting the byline in a bid to constantly stretch play. 

Many fans will have been surprised to see Malacia step up to take corners from the right-hand side. He worried Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak with two wicked inswingers, the first of which provided Victor Lindelof with an excellent opportunity to open the scoring. 

Later in the first half, Malacia evaded trouble with a beautiful piece of skill that resulted in a United free kick. There’s a wonderful nonchalance to his play and willingness to receive the ball. One moment after the break saw him effortlessly kill a long pass before passing up the pitch to keep momentum in United’s favour. 

Malacia continued to battle hard against a gritty Atletico side who made wholesale changes on the hour mark. The Dutch international proved difficult to bypass and stuck closely to the opposition’s fresher attack. 

A second wind even saw the 22-year-old sprint forward and fire a dangerous shot on Oblak’s goal as the game drew to a close. His ability to cover ground, both in attacking and defensive situations, underlines exactly why Ten Hag brought him in from Feyenoord. 

The manager now has three terrific options to execute the energetic, high-press style he is working hard to implement. Luke Shaw and Alex Telles have pushed each other at United over the last two seasons and Malacia’s presence will only force his colleagues to continue improving. 

It remains to be seen whether Malacia appears in our final pre-season fixture against Rayo Vallecano tomorrow. The Old Trafford crowd will be itching to see the new star in action, but Ten Hag may well deem it the perfect moment for Malacia to grab a deserved rest. 

With Alex Telles and Luke Shaw waiting in the wings too, both will be hoping for a starting spot against Brighton & Hove Albion (07 August), as the countdown continues towards our Premier League season opener.