Manchester United goalkeeper Radek Vitek was one of the few positives during the club’s 1-0 loss at the hands of Rosenborg in Trondheim.
In what was United’s first pre-season clash ahead of the upcoming 2024/25 campaign, the team’s performance left a lot to be desired. The display was lacking of any energy, drive or purpose.
Rosenborg hit the woodwork four times before they eventually broke the deadlock in the 93rd minute courtesy of Noah Emmanuel Jean Holm.
The scoreline could have been much worse for the Red Devils, were it not for the heroics of goalkeeper Vitek, who came up with a number of fine saves across both halves.
Rosenborg registered 19 shots in total across the match but they were mostly thwarted by Vitek, who was the only Red to complete a full 90 minutes at The Lerkendal Stadion.
Vitek made a total of seven saves, with six of these coming from inside the United box.
The 20-year-old wasn’t required to run out of his area. He also didn’t punch the ball but he made two high claims.
He registered 94 touches of the ball, during a match in which he found himself very busy. Vitek successfully found his teammates with 69 of the 77 passes he attempted, managing an impressive individual pass completion rate of 90%.
The Czech Republic shot-stopper tried to ping 10 long balls. He successfully connected on four occasions.
Vitek also made two clearances.
(Stats obtained from Sofascore)
The former Accrington Stanley loanee spoke to club media after the match and gave his thoughts on the result. He said, “We are disappointed as I feel like we should always aim for a win, the manager said we don’t play friendlies as it is in our DNA. We should demand more.”
“We are building up now as it is only our first week of pre-season, so we are still waiting for some more boys [to arrive back] from their internationals.”
“But as I said, in the end, all that matters is winning.”
Vitek also expressed his gratitude that young players seem to be getting chances to prove themselves under Erik ten Hag.
The goalkeeper enjoyed a fruitful loan spell with Acrrington Stanley last term and it’s certianly very encouraging that he seems to have picked up where he left off.
Vitek will undoubtedly be hoping to start once again when United return to action against Rangers on Saturday.
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