Manchester United bounced back from their opening-day defeat to Hull City with an emphatic 5-2 victory over Ipswich Town at Old Trafford on Sunday, with captain Bruno Fernandes scoring a hat-trick.
Michael Carrick’s side endured a difficult start after Ipswich took the lead in the 29th minute. Abdul Fatawu beat Luke Shaw before setting up Leif Davis, who fired past goalkeeper Senne Lammens to put the visitors ahead.
United responded before half-time when Matheus Cunha capitalised on a mistake by Marcelino Nunez and set up Fernandes, who fired into the net with his left foot to restore parity.
The hosts continued to push after the restart and were rewarded in the 56th minute when Harry Maguire’s effort was deflected into his own net by Ipswich defender Jacob Greaves.
Fernandes then extended United’s advantage from the penalty spot five minutes later after Greaves brought down Cunha inside the box.
The Portugal international completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute, calmly slotting the ball home to give United a commanding 4-1 lead.
Fernandes turned provider in the 82nd minute when his pass released Bryan Mbeumo, who lobbed the Ipswich goalkeeper to make it 5-1.
Ipswich managed a consolation goal in stoppage time through substitute Chuba Akpom, but it was too late to alter the outcome.
The victory gives United their first win of the season and provides a timely response to last week’s disappointing defeat by Hull.
The match also marked Marcus Rashford’s return to the starting line-up for United for the first time since 2024, while academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo was also named in the starting XI.
Despite the convincing result, Carrick cautioned against reading too much into the performance, insisting that his side still had plenty of work to do.
“We’re not getting carried away. We weren’t overly down last week, everything wasn’t wrong. Today, there are still things we can get better at,” Carrick said.
“The result was great. We haven’t cracked it, there’s a long way to go and we’ll get ready for next week.”
Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil said his team lost control of the game after United’s second-half surge.
“To beat Manchester United at Old Trafford, you need the moments to go in your favour. They didn’t,” O’Neil said.
“We lost control of the momentum. That’s the bit we’ll focus on, really, trying to improve that.”
