Manchester United vs. Borussia Dortmund: Score and Reaction from 2016 ICC

Borussia Dortmund dismantled Manchester United 4-1 on Friday to kick their 2016 International Champions Cup campaign off in bright fashion at the Shanghai Stadium, China.

Summer signing Ousmane Dembele gave Black and Yellows fans something to get excited about after scoring a solo stunner to go along with goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a Gonzalo Castro brace.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Henrikh Mkhitaryan left Signal Iduna Park for Old Trafford earlier this month, and the Armenia international slotted home a fitting consolation goal for United against his former club.

Borussia Dortmund have lost several of their key figures this summer, but after Friday's display, Kieran Canning of Agence France-Presse spoke hopefully of what lies ahead for the Germans: 

Adrian Ramos gifted United a scoring chance after just 15 minutes, but the Colombian was fortunate to see Memphis unable to find a wide-open Jesse Lingard in front of goal after racing clear on a counter-attack.

Both teams went to and fro in Shanghai, but the conditions didn't allow for much fluid, attacking football, and United appeared to be struggling with a lack of cohesion among their forward line.

Dortmund found the breakthrough in the 19th minute, where goalkeeper Sam Johnstone struggled to cope with a bouncing free-kick, and Ousmane Dembele's deflected found its way to a lurking Castro at close range.

Johnstone failed to deal with the initial ball in before Castro snapped up the bobbling ball, and illustrator Stanley Chow hinted Mourinho may not have the stopper in his long-term plans:

The next 10 minutes saw the Germans struggle to create much in terms of chances on goals, although it was far from being a positive outing for United in that regard, either.

However, Antonio Valencia handled the ball in his area, and Aubameyang stepped up to slot the resulting spot-kick past Johnstone, and Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News outlined their problems at the interval:

Mourinho's men didn't exactly come out firing after the restart, and it was again the Germans who appeared to grow in confidence before bagging the third strike and seemingly putting the match outside United's reach.

Dembele mesmerised the Shanghai audience with a sterling run past Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo before powering his 16-yard strike into United's top-right corner, leaving the BBC's John Bennett in awe:

The former Rennes starlet gathered a lot of interest this summer, but it was Dortmund who moved most quickly to bag his services, and he's already looking as though he'll be well worth the investment.

Just two minutes after the nail in the coffin, however, Mkhitaryan injected some life into the fixture, and blogger Liam Canning was happy for the playmaker after Juan Mata's pass from close range found him in front of an open net:

With 30 minutes remaining, Tuchel made no fewer than seven changes all at once, with new signing Marc Bartra coming on for his first minutes as a Borussia Dortmund player, among others.

Dembele may have felt there was little that could beat his hypnotic goal, but Castro rose late on with a 25-yard attempt on the 86-minute mark to certainly enter his name in the debate.

ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko agreed it might well have been the pick of Dortmund's bunch:

In terms of positives, Mourinho could take heart in the way new centre-back Eric Bailly stood up to the talents of a world-class striker like Aubameyang from open play, although Phil Jones was far from as impressive.

By contrast, Tuchel will have much to mull over as his side's International Champions Cup began with a boom, and Dembele in particular will have caught his eye as a particular gem against the Red Devils.

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

United will have just three days' rest before they face fierce rivals Manchester City in their next International Champions Cup fixture on Monday at the National Stadium in Beijing—the first-ever Manchester derby outside Manchester.

Borussia Dortmund's next pre-season clash also happens to be against manager Pep Guardiola's Citizens side, except the Black and Yellows have six days to prepare for their matchup with the Premier League giants.  

Post-Match Reaction

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Perhaps a defeat to Dortmund was to be expected for United due to the fact the two teams are so far apart in their pre-season preparations, but Mourinho's first loss with the Red Devils was a hard one to take.

That being said, the Portuguese was still more than happy to indicate the fact Dortmund have had more summer practice in recent weeks, per Metro's Chris Winterburn:

Furthermore, Winterburn provided quotes from Mourinho, who added it's always "the team that's in the most advanced stage of preparation" that wins, and not necessarily the best.

Midfielder Ander Herrera also took time after the final whistle to speak to former Red Devil and MUTV guest host Dwight Yorke about the result:

United won't have expected a small challenge from Dortmund, but perhaps the English titans never expected to be three goals worse than the Black and Yellows.

Just three weeks remain until the Premier League season gets underway, and United have only three pre-season games remaining—along with the FA Community Shield match at Wembley—to prepare.