Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag watched his team fall to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid on Saturday afternoon in another match where Cristiano Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen.The match played in Oslo, Norway, didn’t offer much to get overly excited about and was settled by a late Joao Felix strike.The Reds were missing key players in Oslo, with Jadon Sancho absent through illness and Ronaldo still in Manchester, for example, but new signing Christian Eriksen was on the bench and he made his first appearance after the break.Eriksen looked sharp and demonstrated his quality from set pieces. United play Rayo Vallecano on Sunday at Old Trafford, and Cristiano, who returned to Carrington on Tuesday, is expected to play in that match.An encouraging start to the match in Oslo saw United dominate as Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were thwarted by goalkeeper Jan Oblak and defender Stefan Savic.Atletico were quick to settle and get the match in a bit slower tempo that suts them well. However, it took Diego Simeone’s team until midway through the second half to start threatening David De Gea. Former Chelsea loanee Saul came close when he fired over the crossbar.Christian Eriksen looks so right in a Manchester United kit ❤️ pic.twitter.com/z5bwpel6ab— GOAL (@goal) July 30, 2022 Joao Felix settled the contest five minutes from time when he received the ball on the edge of the box and fired in without giving it much thought. The flat-footed De Gea was powerless to keep it out.The Premier League kick-off is coming, Frenkie De Jong from Barcelona isn’t. At the same time, Ronaldo’s future is unclear as United embark on a season full of expectations.
