Malacia completes 45 minutes on comeback

The Netherlands international was selected in the starting XI by Ruben Amorim for the clash with the Norwegians – his first senior Reds appearance in 550 days.

Malacia had missed 72 United games between May 2023 and November 2024 after undergoing knee surgery and, while our no.12 did make a 45-minute cameo for the Under-21s at Huddersfield a fortnight ago, this was his reintroduction to first-team football.

Deployed in an attacking left wing-back role by Amorim in his first match in charge at Old Trafford, Malacia was camped high and wide in Glimt’s half for much of his time on the field.

His opening touch of the game came after just nine seconds and, by the time he’d enjoyed a second, United were already a goal up, courtesy of Alejandro Garnacho.

Malacia was regularly in space on the far flank and Bruno Fernandes in particular made a habit of finding him, particularly in the second part of the first 45.

That came after Kjetil Knutsen’s side had surprisingly struck twice in four minutes, through Hakon Evjen and then Philip Zinckernagel, who outpaced Malacia before firing beyond Andre Onana.

The 25-year-old didn’t let that moment faze him though and was part of the attacking charge that successfully found an equaliser just before the break, through Rasmus Hojlund.

He completed 37 of his 38 passes in the opening period, creating two chances and winning both of his tackles.

Malacia is, however, still finding his feet again after the significant setback so it was perhaps unsurprising to see him swapped out for Diogo Dalot at the interval and he therefore had a prime seat on the sidelines to see Hojlund’s second, ending a wonderful team move after Mason Mount’s flick and a pinpoint cross from Manuel Ugarte.

That ultimately turned out to be the winning goal, as Amorim's first M16 match ended in a happy manner and the boss was pleased Malacia could make a return.

“It’s important. It’s really hard for a player to be so long without playing a game,” Amorim told MUTV.

“We have game after game with two days between, so we need all the squad and I believe in them. So it’s not just telling to people that I believe in everybody, I really believe in everybody.

“They are prepared, they have the quality to play and they have the opportunity to show. Let’s start today with winning a game and showing a good performance.”