Manchester United U18s hosted Liverpool at Carrington on Saturday morning.
After a disappointing trip to Italy during the week for some of the youngsters who featured for United’s U19s against Como, the youngsters looked to bounce back against rivals Liverpool.
First half
United started quickly out of the gates and took the lead after just five minutes. Jaume Camacho picked up the ball centrally and shifted onto his right foot to strike wonderfully from 25 yards into the bottom corner.
On a windy and rainy day, Junior Brown almost caught out the keeper directly from a corner, which looked to sneak in past the front post and required Matthew Wright to crash into the woodwork to make the save.
Camacho came close again from long range in the 14th minute when the Spaniard’s effort crashed off the crossbar.
A rare Liverpool attack saw Aiden Yeguo go on a dangerous run into the United area, but his layoff to the edge of the box was met with a wayward shot that went well wide of Charlie Hardy’s goal.
United doubled the lead in the 33rd minute. Kai Rooney and David Eze initially saw their efforts blocked before Noah Ajayi sidestepped two defenders and finished low past the keeper.
Four minutes later, Camacho scored his second and United’s third. It started with Rooney’s press, which saw the United striker steal the ball high up before he ran at the Liverpool backline and squared it for Camacho to apply an easy finish to make it 3-0.
Second half
The visitors came out much improved in the second half and thought they had pulled one back just a minute after the restart when Luca Eden found the net, but the assistant referee’s flag was quick to come to United’s rescue.
However, 10 minutes later there was no flag as Liverpool did get on the scoresheet. Jayden Ngwashi initially made an important block to deny Yeguo, but United were unable to clear before Finn Inglethorpe scored at the back post amidst a congested area.
Summer signing Karim Cassim came off the bench just after the hour mark for his United debut to play alongside David Eze, both of whom were signed from Manchester City.
Emmanuel Ziro played a neat one-two with Eze on the right side of the area before being bundled down from behind, but the referee waved away the protests—a recurring theme for the academy this season, having seen stonewall penalties not given in multiple games.
A big mistake from Hardy then gifted Liverpool a second goal when the United keeper got caught in two minds and coughed up the ball to Erik Farkas.
Camacho completed his hat-trick just two minutes later, restoring the two-goal lead. Edson Dejonge-Seiros skipped inside his marker on the left wing before slipping through Camacho with a reverse pass to finish off his weaker left boot.
Ziro added another when he received the ball from Cassim on the right side and beat his man with a couple of step-overs before smashing the ball inside the near post.
Liverpool’s 15-year-old Luca Eden then responded with a magnificent strike from 20 yards into the top left corner.
But the scoring was not finished there, as Cassim kept the ball in on the byline before cutting back to Camacho to score his fourth of the game and secure a 6-3 win.
Darren Fletcher’s team only have a couple of days to rest as they are back in action on Tuesday against Burnley.
Match facts
United: Hardy, Shah (J. Watson 82), Ngwashi, Laurie, O’Brien, McEvoy, Eze (Carrick 82), Brown (Ziro 70), Camacho, Ajayi (Dejonge-Seiros 63), Rooney (Cassim 63)
Unused subs: Ford, McLaughlin
Goals: Camacho 5, 37, 76, 90+1′, Ajayi 34, Ziro 83