Mkhitaryan and Mata lead Manchester United to friendly win over Sampdoria in Uefa Super Cup warm-up

A goal in either half from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and his replacement Juan Mata helped Manchester United to a 2-1 victory over Sampdoria at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road in the Reds’ final pre-season game on Wednesday.

The pair’s goals came either side of Dennis Praet’s strike to ensure a positive end to United’s summer and gave them a boost ahead of next Tuesday’s European Super Cup clash with Real Madrid in Macedonia.

United boss Jose Mourinho gave new £40-million (HK$413.4 million) signing Nemanja Matic his debut and the former Chelsea man strolled through a comfortable 45 minutes before being replaced by Michael Carrick at the break.

The Italians, 10th in Serie A last season, had no shots on target in the first half, and the closest they came to a goal was from a Danny Blind back pass that required a full length save from David De Gea.

De Gea’s handling of the ball gave the Italians an indirect free kick on the edge of the six yard box, but United’s defenders blocked and immediately countered.

Antonio Valencia stormed clear on the right wing and fed Mkhitaryan, who then found Matteo Darmian on the left wing. His cross back into the box was headed home by Mkhitaryan to turn Sampdoria’s opportunity into a United goal in just 30 seconds.