As Manchester City lifted the Community Shield in the directors’ box of Wembley, Casemiro stood on the touchline looking up with one hand wrapped around his waist and the other across his chin. If anybody thought this match was just the continuation of pre-season then his face and pose gave compelling evidence to the contrary.
Casemiro was a picture of anguish, bordering anger, as he stared up at City’s players raising yet another piece of silverware.
He had been vexed during the penalty shootout, issuing advice when Matheus Nunes and Ruben Dias stepped up. From the centre circle he told Andre Onana to dive to his right for Nunes, and prematurely celebrated when it looked for a moment as if United’s goalkeeper would claw one of his big hands to the ball.
When Dias approached the spot Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, the City player’s Portuguese team-mate, made gestures of palms down to the turf, indicating Onana should stay put. Onana dived, though, and Dias rolled the ball the other side. Casemiro, Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez wheeled away in frustration, imploring to staff on the bench.
This is not to say they were right and Onana wrong — he made a super save to deny Bernardo Silva’s penalty and helped United win a friendly shootout against Arsenal in Los Angeles — but it did rather suggest that Casemiro, as far as he is concerned, still has the fight for English football.
Casemiro offered flashes of his quality at Wembley (Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
It all cut a rather different image to the last time Casemiro was at Wembley. Back then in May, he exchanged a curt hug with Erik ten Hag as confetti lay scattered on the pitch, having played no part of Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph over City.
Given the wider context, it seemed implausible both player and manager would be at the club when the new campaign kicked off. Ten Hag had dropped Casemiro to the bench, with Sofyan Amrabat starting in midfield instead. Once the team sheets were handed in, Casemiro said the hamstring injury he had been handling during training that week had worsened to the point he would be unable to take his place as a substitute.
Some people close to the club thought the timing was very curious, especially as Casemiro had previously voiced a preference for the managerial style of Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane. Casemiro insisted the injury was genuine, and United sources said so on the day. But such were the stakes, his absence felt like a serious fracture creating lasting repercussions.
But the talks about an exit to Saudi Arabia have come to naught for Casemiro, while Ten Hag has taken a pragmatic approach since his reprieve.
The signs are that the Brazilian veteran is very much a player Ten Hag will call upon during this campaign. Indeed, having played the full 90 minutes against Liverpool last Saturday, Casemiro stayed on for the entirety again at Wembley.
He grew into the game, making decisive contributions, and then converted United’s fifth penalty, which would have been the winner had Jadon Sancho scored. He stepped forward to console Sancho after he had missed, the kind of leadership of which team-mates spoke glowingly in his first season at the club. He wore the armband against Liverpool in South Carolina, and was listed as captain again on the team sheets here, but that was an error as Fernandes led the side.
What is it about Casemiro and team sheets at Wembley?
Casemiro was listed as captain on the team sheet (Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Whatever the pre-game intrigue, when the game commenced he displayed authority.
There was a slide challenge on James McAtee that was customarily nowhere near the target, but then Casemiro helped crowd out City in midfield on the half hour to spring an attack. Ten Hag clapped and the tide turned United’s way.
Casemiro began playing an important role higher up the pitch, just as he had on the U.S. tour. He exchanged a one-two with Amad Diallo that should have seen the winger shoot rather than pass, forlornly, to Mason Mount. He was also involved in the chance Marcus Rashford bent wide, combining with Fernandes and then whipping a pass to Rashford when Mount took Kobbie Mainoo’s touch off the toe of Fernandes. It was intricate play and Casemiro was at its heart.
In the second half he fired a pass into midfield to Mount, who drew a foul from Dias to alleviate pressure. Then Casemiro showed he can stay on his feet, stopping Jeremy Doku in the box by planting his two legs in his path.
In possession Casemiro was the conduit, twice playing passes to Fernandes to release Alejandro Garnacho; he tried one of his own to the Argentina winger with the outside of his boot, albeit slightly overhit, having just stopped Oscar Bobb as he was winding up a dribble into the box.
Late on Casemiro even launched into a terrific slide tackle on Nunes on the outskirts of box, proving every once in a while his preferred mode of halting an opponent works.
The Brazilian may still have something to offer at Old Trafford (Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
Afterwards, Ten Hag rejected the idea the 4-2-4 system had aided Casemiro, rather highlighting a pre-season free from Brazil action. Last summer, Casemiro had to work on his fitness when he returned to Carrington. “This is the first time in a long time he has a pre-season, so he is very fit in this moment,” Ten Hag said. “I think, as a team, we worked very good together and that makes it easier for Casemiro. And then he’s a great football player.
“You can bring his skills in and then you see his importance to the game for our team.”
Aged 32 and on significant wages, although his salary dips below £300,000 per week with the club’s failure to reach the Champions League, United would have been open to selling Casemiro this window. He has two years left on his contract plus an optional extra.
But with suitors not at the table, Casemiro has a chance to disprove the argument Jamie Carragher made after Casemiro’s performance in the 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, that his time in top-flight football was over.
On a possible departure, Ten Hag said: “I don’t have any idea or signal if not. We are very happy with him.”
(Top photo: Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
