Man Utd beat Sabah 4-0 in the Champions League, and the manner of the win allowed Michael Carrick to use all five substitutes with time to spare.
Michael Carrick said he was “delighted” to be able to hand out Champions League debuts to two Manchester United academy graduates during their 4-0 win against Sabah at Old Trafford.
United raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half in their first Champions League game since December 2023 and that allowed Carrick to ring the changes ahead of Sunday’s first Manchester derby of the season.
Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes and Benjamin Sesko scored in the first half and after Lisandro Martinez added a fourth, Carrick turned to Harry Amass and Shea Lacey, bringing on both 19-year-olds for their first appearances at this level.
It was another show of faith in the academy from Carrick and capped off a good day for the club, with the Under-19s beating Sabah 5-0 in the UEFA Youth League at Leigh Sports Village earlier in the afternoon.
“I was delighted with being able to get Harry on the pitch, and Shay,” said Carrick. “I think it’s important. It’s something that we were really kind of focused on as the game developed, really, was trying to get the younger boys on the pitch because I think it’s important for this football club to do that. Pleased with both of them.”
Amass came on for Patrick Dorgu, who had a couple of shaky moments defensively on his first start at left-back for the club but provided the assist for the opening goal and got forward well.
“I thought Pat played ever so well,” added Carrick. “He’s a big threat down that side of the pitch for us tonight, the way we played, and creating the first goal and being really dangerous. I was really pleased with Pat as well.”
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