Tempers threatened to boil over as Manchester United and Crystal Palace did battle in Australia on Tuesday.
The two Premier League sides faced off in a pre-season friendly in Melbourne, with the Red Devils impressing again under new manager Erik ten Hag. Anthony Martial gave United the lead in the first half and Marcus Rashford doubled the advantage after the interval following a flowing team move.
Jadon Sancho then produced a composed finish which all but secured victory with half an hour remaining, latching onto the in-form Martial's through-ball before finishing past Remi Matthews, who replaced the injured Jack Butland for the Eagles in the first half. Sancho's goal was his second of pre-season and came shortly after there was a heated altercation involving United midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Fred, and Palace forward Jordan Ayew.
Fernandes was enraged after Ayew lunged in on him with a very late tackle - which saw the latter shown a yellow card - and Fred leapt to his teammate's defence. The duo shoved each other before they were eventually separated and play could resume, with Sancho finding the back of the net just two minutes later.
Ten Hag and opposite number Patrick Vieira rung the changes shortly after the third goal went in. Will Fish, Amad Diallo, Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage, Anthony Elanga and Hannibal Mejbri were among the youngsters introduced for the Red Devils to play the final 20-or-so minutes and earn more invaluable experience ahead of the season proper.
Although the fixture was a friendly, it was played with plenty of intensity and a good tempo, giving the two teams ideal preparation for the fast-approaching Premier League campaign. Jean-Philippe Mateta was among the Palace players to throw his weight around and floored Donny van de Beek - who assisted Rashford's goal stylishly - with a heavy-handed challenge.
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Palace pulled a goal back with just over a quarter of an hour to play as Joel Ward latched onto Luka Milivojevic's corner to head past David de Gea. At that point, 3-1 to United was a fair reflection of a match which saw both goalkeepers kept busy but the Red Devils dominate possession.
De Gea will be disappointed with how he was beaten by Ward's header to concede his first goal of United's pre-season tour. The Spaniard sat out the 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory with a knock but started the 4-0 mauling of Liverpool prior to that. In the closing stages, 19-year-old defender Fish was shown a red card for hauling down Victor Akinwale as he burst through on goal.
