Harrison Delbridge remembers the night he beat Manchester United | OneFootball

Harrison Delbridge recalls the moment he received a text message from his agent telling him to board a flight to Malaysia. He was selected to take part in a fixture he was unaware of. The opponents were the mighty Manchester United. Delbridge played 90 minutes, and his team won. The Australian defender shares his memories of a night he'll never forget.

May 21st, Bilbao: Manchester United took on Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the 2025 Europa League. The match featured two teams in the bottom half of the Premier League table. With no other silverware won, and this their last opportunity to conclude a bitterly disappointing season on a high (of sorts), the match was unsurprisingly cagey and low on quality.

Tottenham won the final, and collected their first trophy in 17 years. Brennan Johnson scored the only goal of the match. In total, Spurs managed three efforts on goal to go with their 35% possession. But it was enough. An instantly forgettable final for Manchester United and neutrals all over the world. As much as they probably wanted to crawl into a bunker for the next three months, United's season wasn't over.

May 25th, Manchester: Ruben Amorim took his team back to Old Trafford to close out their domestic campaign. With the Bilbao loss still ringing in their ears, United were terrible but eventually saw off Champions League-chasing Aston Villa thanks to two late goals. Emiliano Martínez was sent off late in the first-half with the score tied at 0-0.

The three points brought to an end a run of three straight league defeats and the failure in the Basque country. United would end the season in 16th on 42 points. That's exactly half the number of points great rivals Liverpool accumulated on their way to the title. This was Manchester United's lowest league finish since anyone could remember. As much as they probably wanted to crawl into a bunker for the next three months, United's season wasn't over.

May 28th, Kuala Lumpur: A quick shower and off to the airport. Manchester United were asked to fly half way across the world to the hot and humid climate of Malaysia's capital city. Their opponents were the ASEAN All-Stars, a diverse group of mainly South East Asian footballers cobbled together to offer an opponent, similar to the famous Barbarians club in rugby union. The All-Stars were supposed to be cannon fodder in comfortable victory for United in front of their Malaysian supporters.

The venue was Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. And, amazingly, there was K League interest in the match. Incheon United's Australian centre-back, Harrison Delbridge, temporarily swapped an unstoppable promotion charge for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of facing the 20-times champions of England. Kim Sang-sik, most recently in charge of Jeonbuk Hyundai, was the home team manager. A month since his adventures in Malaysia, Delbridge retells the events like a child reminiscing about receiving his first pair of football boots.

Despite being a mainstay of a great Incheon United team in recent seasons that backboned an unlikely assault on the Asian Champions League, Delbridge has found gametime hard to come by since his club was relegated to K League 2 last winter. New manager Yoon Jung-hwan, who has hardly put a foot wrong since swapping the upper echelons of K League 1 for a promotion scrap, has opted for youth over experience. This meant that when the call came through to play against Manchester United, the Australian jumped at the invite.

"It was really, really out of the blue," Delbridge explains after his team beat Hwaseong last month. "Like you said, I haven't been playing that much this year, so I got a text from my agent here saying 'you're gonna go play in this game' and I just said 'yeah, sure, why not.' For me, I'm basically playing practice games and stuff like that. I'm coming in and getting very limited minutes, so I need to sort of get minutes anywhere. It was an awesome experience playing in front of 80,000 people or something like that."

With little notice, Delbridge was on a flight to Malaysia and ready to meet his new teammates. For one special night only. "I flew in trained with the team before for maybe a day and a half. I did not know what to expect. I was a little bit nervous after the first training, just as far as having seen the squad, and I just didn't know what to expect coming up against United, but, I thought, 'this is crazy.'" Delbridge still looks in shock as he laughs through this memory.

"It was a crazy 2 or 3 days, yeah, and then I was straight back into training here. And playing on the weekend again, like nothing happened. It was cool."

The mixed zone experience in Korea is always pleasant but rarely revealing. We ask players about the recent match, how's the form, the next match, and any season goals they may have set. Lining up against Manchester United was, as Delbridge said, awesome, but it also made for an awesome conversation point. This is one mixed zone interview I never imagined doing.

Despite the name of the team suggesting players were coming from South East Asia, Delbridge wasn't the only Australian in the squad. Kealey Adamson, recently signed by Queens Park Rangers, was selected as a right wingback. Striker Yaya Dukuly has represented Australia at underage level up to U23, and coming off the bench was 21-year-old Adrian Segecic, who set up the only goal of the game. In total, six different nationalities started for ASEAN All-Stars, with five more on the bench.

"I knew 2 Australian guys," Delbridge continues. "One was a young kid when I was at Melbourne City. He was there with me, and then he was playing in France, but now he's back. The thing is, what I heard was normally there's not even Australians there on the ASEAN All-Stars team. So before the game it was like, 'what are these Aussie guys doing here?'"

The unfamiliar nature of the occasion was perfectly illustrated when the game was over. "And then after the game, they (the coaches) were like, 'oh, thanks for coming' but yeah, it was cool. But it's guys that I don't normally play against from that part of the world like Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Players that I've never met before, but they all had a great attitude. Also, it's interesting to have a Korean coaching stuff as well, so that was fun. Football is a small world, you have small connections with everyone. So it was a good experience, but then I had to come back and be like straight back into Incheon mode."

The Red Devils may have endured a nightmare season, but the squad was still loaded with recognizable talent, and some great players. Harry Maguire captained a side featuring André Onana, Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, Diogo Dalot, Kobbie Mainoo, and Rasmus Højlund. Alejandro Garnacho, Jonny Evans, and club captain Bruno Fernandes all came off the bench at half time. Delbridge was pinching himself looking at the United team before the match started.

"Because it was so out of the blue, it was pretty surreal. In the tunnel standing next to these guys, I think they were not in a good mood. I tried to crack a joke with them. They were wearing these Adidas training tops. I think it was some promo they had to do. But it was roasting there too. So I was standing next to Kobbie Mainoo and I said to him 'are you warm enough?', and he was just having none of it. So yeah, they were not in a good mood and especially after the game. But we were just buzzing. There were good vibes in the locker room and thankfully we won."

United still had one more match to play. The bunker had to wait.

Incheon's Australian stalwart was the only player to last the entire 90 minutes. His performance was universally praised,with ESPN awarding him an 8.5/10 rating. Memories that'll last forever.

Match Details

ASEAN All-Stars starting XI: Khammai; Kan, Aguinaldo, Delbridge, Lambert; Adamson, Aguero, H.L Nguyen, Reyes; Coulibaly, Dukuly.

Substitutes: Manh, V.V Nguyen, Pedro, Davis, Lwin, H.D Nguyen, Rudianto, Bounkong, Segecic, Kanitsribumphen, Azmi, Nadzli, Ra’op, Fandi, Risaldi.

Scorer: Lwin 71'.

Manchester United: André Onana, Reece Munro, Harry Maguire (c), Ayden Heaven, Diogo Dalot, Casemiro, Patrick Dorgu, Jack Moorhouse, Kobbie Mainoo, Rasmus Hojlund.

Substitutes: Daniel Armer, Jaydan Kamason, Shea Lacey, Mali Sékou Kone, Alejandro Garnacho, Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson, Bruno Fernandes, Chido Obi, Amad Diallo, Godwill Kukonki, Toby Collyer, Tyler Fletcher, Jonny Evans, Tom Heaton, Jim Thwaites.

Attendance: 72,520.