For the second time in as many years, Manchester United is spending part of its summer in San Diego.
The Red Devils will return to Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday, where they will take on Real Betis of Spain’s La Liga in a summer friendly. The match kicks off at 7 p.m.
“San Diego is a wonderful city, and we’re excited to be heading back and bringing some excitement to football fans in the region,” United center back Harry Maguire said.
United coach Erik ten Hag, who signed a contract extension earlier this month to stay with the club through June 2026, brings a talented squad with him to the United States ahead of the Premier League season. Ten Hag played 23 of his team’s 29 available players in Saturday’s summer series opener, a 2-1 loss to Arsenal at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The club is again loaded with attacking talent, headlined by Marcus Rashord, Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Hojlund and Antony. The backline flexes a similar level of Premier League experience and quality, with Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Maguire and the youngster Leny Yoro leading the way. All saw action against Arsenal.
It’s unclear exactly who will play (and how much) on Wednesday. Manchester United played mostly its under-21 squad in last year’s Snapdgradon exhibition, and lost 3-1 to Wrexham AFC. For the second straight year, United’s trip to San Diego is sandwiched between larger matches. United will face Liverpool this weekend in Columbia, S.C.
Real Betis is in search of a new scorer after Willian Jose signed with Spartak Moscow during the offseason. Betis is 1-1 during its summer exhibition series, beating Austria Salzburg 5-1 in Spain before falling 1-0 to Liverpool on Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Regardless of who’s on the field, Wednesday’s friendly gives fans an opportunity to watch European clubs as they build toward the start of their seasons. Manchester United opens its Premier League season Aug. 16 against Fulham, one day after Real Betis plays its La Liga opener against Girona FC.
The Red Devils finished as FA Cup champions after an impressive victory over rival Manchester City, but their eighth-place finish in the Premier League standings was below the club standard.
The summer tour is “definitely an opportunity to sharpen up and prepare ourselves for next season, given the expectations that we have as a club and players,” Maguire said.
Maguire has noticed the popularity of soccer during his second consecutive summer trip to the United States. It’s especially so in San Diego, which is home to the wildly popular San Diego Wave FC women’s team and a Major League Soccer team, San Diego FC, that’s set to debut next season. Tuesday, the club put on a clinic for 32 soccer-playing students at The Preuss School UC San Diego.
Last year’s match drew a Snapdragon Stadium-record crowd of 34,248 fans, snarling traffic for hours postgame. The match wasn’t without drama: Wrexham’s “Super” Paul Mullin collided with Nathan Bishop and was forced from the game with a punctured lung. Play was halted for eight minutes as medics worked to get Mullin oxygen.
Mullin’s injury and subsequent recovery was documented on “Welcome to Wrexham,” the wildly popular American docuseries.
“Watching the growth of football in the United States has been very exciting as a footballer, obviously, with the growing support from fans and with the World Cup coming in two years,” said Maguire.