Carson (United States), Jul 26 (IANS): Manchester United's third string goalkeeper Joel Pereira was the hero for the English Premier League team, who edged out AC Milan on penalties after a 1-1 draw in a pre-season friendly here.

Pereira, who came off the bench for the second half of the International Champions Cup match on Wednesday, saved three penalties as United won the shoot-out 9-8, reports Efe.

Alexis Sanchez had opened the scoring in the 12th minute for United, who were playing their third pre-season friendly on their tour of the US West Coast.

Former Liverpool forward Suso cancelled out the Chilean's opener three minutes later for the Serie A side.

"The game was good. Good training session against a team with more time than us, with more players than us, so was a good training session", United coach Jose Mourinho said.

"It's very competitive and in the end the penalties for me means nothing but I think football fans, especially American football fans, enjoy the penalty shootout and was good fun", the Portuguese manager added.

The game lacked fluency, which was to be expected with both teams missing several first teamers who are resting after the World Cup.

Manchester United open their EPL League campaign on August 7 with a home match against Leicester.

"We had players in three teams that reached the last two days of the WC. They are back on Aug. 6, so it's very very difficult", Mourinho said.