Casemiro scored one and provided another as Manchester United began their defence of the Carabao Cup with a straightforward victory against lifeless Crystal Palace.
A lot has happened in the seven months since securing the first trophy of the Erik ten Hag era – and the Red Devils’ first silverware in six years – against Newcastle at Wembley.
Casemiro opened the scoring under the arch and found the net again in Tuesday’s 3-0 third-round triumph against Palace as United look to put their poor start to the season behind them.
There were a combined 14 changes for an Old Trafford meeting that will be repeated in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, when Eagles boss Roy Hodgson will demand a vastly improved display.
United kept Palace at arm’s length in a one-sided first half that brought a pair of quickfire goals shortly after injury had ended Dean Henderson’s debut against his former club.
First good team play ended with Alejandro Garnacho turning in Diogo Dalot’s cutback, before Casemiro headed home his fourth goal of the campaign from the returning Mason Mount’s corner.
Anthony Martial rifled home from the Brazil international’s cross in the 55th minute as United rubber-stamped their place in Wednesday’s fourth-round draw by following up their much-needed win at Burnley.
The hosts were in control from the outset at an impressively full Old Trafford, where the best Palace could initially muster was a dangerous early cross cut out by Harry Maguire on his first club start of the season.
United patiently passed and probed in the Palace half, although they had not created a clear-cut chance by the time their former goalkeeper Henderson went off injured on his debut.
Sam Johnstone replaced his fellow United academy graduate in the 19th minute and was beaten just two minutes later.
A cross-field pass to the right ended with the underlapping Dalot bursting forwards and cutting back to Garnacho, who battled to stretch and turn home.
United smelt blood and immediately hunted a potentially tie-settling second.
Dalot met a fantastic diagonal ball with a strike on Johnstone’s goal, before a last-gasp Chris Richards challenge on Facundo Pellistri prevented another effort on goal.
Mount sent over the resulting corner from the right and Casemiro all too easily shrugged off Jeffrey Schlupp to powerfully head home in the 27th minute.
The goals took the sting out of a tie that already had an exhibition vibe about it, with Palace offering precious little in terms of threat as the hosts showed flashes of quality.
Full debutant Sofyan Amrabat had impressed as a makeshift left-back and stepped up into midfield at half-time after Victor Lindelof came on for Mount.
Marc Guehi replaced Jesurun Rak-Sakyi as Palace made a change of their own, but the England defender’s introduction could not prevent Palace conceding again.
Casemiro picked up a loose ball and swung a fine right-footed cross to the far post, where Martial got behind Nathaniel Clyne to slam home in front of the Stretford End.
Both sides made changes with an eye on this weekend’s reunion, including United handing teenager Dan Gore his debut.
“We’ve had a shot,” chanted the Palace fans after Clyne lashed over and soon had a shot on target to sing about after Andre Onana stopped Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Jonny Evans’ header from a corner was denied by a point-blank Johnstone save as the match wound down, while Onana stopped Mateta again before 18-year-old introduction David Ozoh dragged wide.
Lindelof and Garnacho stung the palms as Johnstone ensured things did not get any worse for the south Londoners.
Martino 'won't take risks' but expects Messi to play this weekend
Gerardo Martino is expecting Lionel Messi to play for Inter Miami at home to D.C. United this weekend, though he emphasised he would not take "any risks".
Messi was absent as Miami were held to a 0-0 draw away at Orlando City last time out with what Martino described as a "bit of a niggle".
The goalless draw, combined with FC Cincinnati's win over Atlanta United, means Miami's lead at the top of the Eastern Conference has been closed to just a point ahead of this weekend's fixtures.
As Miami look to get back to winning ways this weekend, Martino believes Messi will be able to return, though he will not rush the former Barcelona man back onto the field.
"The fact is that he felt some pain in his movements and, given that we're on a run of three games in the space of a week, we felt the most sensible thing to do was leave him out of today's game," Martino told reporters.
"The plan is that he'll play on Saturday, but it’s going to depend on how he progresses. We’re not going to take any risks, and on Thursday and Friday we'll assess his fitness."
D.C. were handed a first loss in four as they were thumped 4-1 by the New York Red Bulls in midweek, but head coach Troy Lesesne believes the defeat does not cancel out the previous solid form displayed by his side.
"For the last three weeks, we can feel good about our performance, and tonight doesn’t just erase all that," Lesesne said.
“We're building still. We can recognise tonight was a setback.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Inter Miami – Luis Suarez
With Messi absent against Orlando, Suarez couldn't make it four straight games with a goal as he drew a blank. With Messi potentially missing again on Saturday, Suarez will be keen to get back among the goals to help his team to victory.
D.C. United – Christian Benteke
Benteke was held scoreless against the Red Bulls despite taking six shots in the match. It was Benteke’s third MLS match this season with at least six shots with all other D.C. players having combined to do that once in league play in 2024 (Gabriel Pirani). The former Liverpool man certainly isn't afraid of pulling the trigger, though he will be hoping this time to find the back of the net with one or more of his efforts at goal.
MATCH PREDICTION – MIAMI WIN
D.C. are unbeaten in three all-time matches at Miami. D.C. are the only opponent that have visited Miami more than once in regular season play and never lost.
Miami’s five-game winning streak ended Wednesday with a 0-0 draw with Orlando. Miami had exactly seven shots for the second straight match, the club’s first time having consecutive MLS matches with single-digit shots since May-June 2023.
In Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to the Red Bulls, D.C. attempted 22 shots while allowing 11. The plus-11 shot differential was United’s highest in a loss by three or more goals since a 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew in April 2013 (+14).
In 2024, Miami have one win in their five MLS matches (two draws, two defeats) without Messi and seven victories in their nine games with him. The team’s goals per game average in MLS matches this season is 3.2 with Messi, and 1.2 without him.
Messi is clearly Miami's star man, then, and with him looking likely to feature this weekend, the hosts will be the favourites to return to winning ways at the top of the Eastern Conference.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Inter Miami - 50.8%
D.C United - 22.9%
Draw - 26.3%
Almeria 0-2 Barcelona: Fermin at the double in easy Blaugrana win
Barcelona remained on track to finish second in LaLiga after Fermin Lopez's brace sealed a 2-0 win over bottom side Almeria on Thursday.
Fermin gave Barca an early lead in the 14th minute when he headed past goalkeeper Luis Maximiano from Hector Fort's accurate cross.
Despite efforts from Cesar Montes and Lucas Robertone, Almeria were unable to find an equaliser.
Fermin netted his second from Sergi Roberto's cross to wrap up the win for Barca in the 67th minute.
Xavi's side are on 79 points, four clear of Catalan rivals Girona, whose hopes of finishing second are fading fast after Tuesday's 1-0 defeat to Villarreal.
Real Madrid, who have already clinched the title, continue to pull away from Barca after a 5-0 win over Alaves on Tuesday.
Data Debrief: Holding the Fort
Fort provided the assist for Barca's opener, his second assist of the campaign in LaLiga.
Three players aged under 20 have provided an assist in LaLiga for the Blaugrana this term – Lamine Yamal (four), Fort (two) and Gavi (one). That is not a statistic matched by any other team in Europe's top five leagues.
Charlotte FC v LA Galaxy: Smith looking to build on 'untidy' win over Fire
Dean Smith is looking for his Charlotte FC side to build upon their 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire when they host the LA Galaxy this weekend.
Charlotte made it three wins in a row as they narrowly beat the Fire during midweek thanks to Ashley Westwood's 60th-minute winner.
The three-match win streak has taken Charlotte all the way up to fifth in the Eastern Conference, and though Smith was not enthralled by the manner of the victory over Chicago, he appreciated his side's mindset.
"I saw the mentality, but I didn’t see a game of football that I liked. It certainly won’t make the highlight reel," Smith told reporters.
"It wasn't a thriller of any sort. It was an untidy game from both teams but we showed real good mentality to limit them to few chances, and we took the one we had from a set piece."
The Galaxy, meanwhile, drew 2-2 at Minnesota United on Wednesday, leaving them fifth in the Western Conference and four points off leaders Real Salt Lake.
Minnesota equalised with just 10 minutes to play, but Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney still thought it was a solid point for his side.
"We've got to try to take this point and start to heal and start to recover and move on to the next one," Vanney said.
"[It is a] good, hard-earned point at the end of the day even though there was a chance for us to get three there at the tail end."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Charlotte FC – Ashley Westwood
Westwood scored the lone goal in Charlotte’s win over Chicago on Wednesday at the hour mark. Nine of Charlotte's 11 goals since March 23 have been scored after half-time, and Westwood will be hoping to spur his side on once more this Saturday by finding the net again.
LA Galaxy – Riqui Puig
Puig assisted both of the Galaxy's goals against Minnesota on Wednesday after also recording assists on both Galaxy goals on Saturday against Salt Lake. Puig is the first Galaxy player to record multiple assists in consecutive matches since Romain Alessandrini in 2018, and he will hope to make it three such games in a row this weekend.
MATCH PREDICTION – CHARLOTTE WIN
Charlotte and the Galaxy have each recorded a 1-0 away win against the other. Both goals were scored after the 70th minute.
The Galaxy have drawn each of their last three matches with the last two ending 2-2. In their last 22 matches, the Galaxy have scored two or more goals 15 times and allowed two or more goals 17 times.
Charlotte have won three straight matches, keeping clean sheets in all three. This is the first time Charlotte have kept clean sheets in three straight matches in club history, and with home advantage this weekend, they look the favourites to pick up the three points on Saturday.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Charlotte: 47.3%
Galaxy: 25.8%
Draw: 26.9%
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