Manchester United hosted Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on Sunday, wearing next season’s home kit, with tributes planned around what is expected to be Casemiro’s final appearance at the ground.
The home side named Lammens, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw across the back, with Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad in midfield and Bruno Fernandes leading the creative line alongside Facundo Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, who replaced Joshua Zirkzee in the Manchester United starting XI; Dalot returned at right-back in place of Noussair Mazraoui. Forest lined up 4-4-2 with Sels, Williams, Morato, Milenkovic and Netz in defence, Elliot Hutchinson and Elliot Anderson in midfield, with Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Chris Wood and Igor Jesus up front.
The match carried extra weight for the crowd and the club. United had already secured Champions League football for next season, but a win would have allowed them to mathematically seal third place. The club had planned tributes for Casemiro before and after the game, and a tifo in the Stretford End was expected to greet him.
Casemiro, 34, returns to the spotlight after a season that briefly derailed his standing. He has made 159 appearances for Manchester United and scored 26 goals. After being substituted in the 64th minute in the home defeat by Newcastle on 30 December 2024, he did not start again for nearly seven weeks. He returned to the starting line-up for the first leg of the Europa League last-16 tie against Real Sociedad on 6 March 2025 and has started every major game the club have played since the league game against Arsenal that followed.
Those facts have reshaped the narrative around him. Where critics once wondered whether he should step away—remarks last May urging players to quit before their form forced them out were part of the debate—Casemiro himself has framed the season in terms of changing circumstances and mentality. Speaking in an interview, he said football and life change, and that mentality — responding after a poor performance with full commitment the next day — is what matters most to him. He is also expected to be Carlo Ancelotti’s captain for Brazil at this summer’s tournament.
The fixture also brought small, visible reminders of the club’s broader plans. United wore the new home strip at Old Trafford after the Manchester United women’s team debuted the same kit in their WSL game at Chelsea on Saturday. Off the field, Michael Carrick is understood to be close to a permanent two-year contract with an option of a further 12 months after a run of form that produced 10 wins from 15 games, just two defeats, and more points than any other Premier League side since his appointment.
Nottingham Forest arrived with safety secured last weekend, when Elliot Anderson’s equaliser at Newcastle sealed their top-flight status, which reduced the stakes for the visitors but did not dim the significance for United or for the individual narratives at Old Trafford. The hosts came into the match having beaten Liverpool 3-2 two weeks earlier and having drawn 0-0 at Sunderland in their most recent league outing.
The tension around the game was not in the team sheets but in the loose ends the fixture could tidy. Casemiro’s trajectory this season — from being substituted and sidelined to reclaiming a starting role in the club’s major matches — collides with the ceremony planned for him and with Carrick’s likely offer of a permanent deal. That juxtaposition frames the evening as a moment of transition rather than a simple season-ender.
By kick-off, the stadium would know the facts: a veteran midfielder with 159 appearances and 26 goals set to leave Old Trafford; a club already assured of Champions League football but chasing a mathematical guarantee of third place; and a caretaker manager whose recent form has put him on course for a full-time appointment. For Casemiro, who kissed and pointed to the badge after scoring against Brentford last month, the match at Old Trafford was meant to be more than a game — it was a farewell in front of the crowd that will remember that gesture long after the season closes.
