Manchester United 2 Internazionale 3: United's familiar frailties exposed

Two highly-appropriate opponents will contest the first Community Shield at the new Wembley for, as with the venue itself, neither Manchester United or Chelsea are on schedule for their opening ceremony.

A flawless start was imperative to Sir Alex Ferguson in his efforts to prise the Premiership from Stamford Bridge last season and it should comfort Jose Mourinho to know he will not be alone in struggling to play his strongest hand this Sunday. While the Chelsea manager wrestles with an indecently early injury crisis, his United counterpart will struggle to fill the luxury substitutes' bench of the redeveloped national stadium on the evidence of last night's friendly defeat by Internazionale.

While the United team-sheet named just five players in reserve – all unused as Ferguson gave Sunday's intended line-up a full 90 minutes – the Old Trafford stands contained over £50m of summer acquisitions as Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves nursed Copa American tiredness and respective injuries alongside the sidelined Paul Scholes. Doncaster and Peterborough, not the closest challengers to United's crown next season, await for the rested trio this weekend. Meanwhile, Carlos Tevez awaits the outcome of a High Court hearing on 22 August before discovering whether his acrimonious release from West Ham will lead to the English champions. Rarely has the traditional curtain-raiser appeared so premature.

There was a hug from Ferguson for opposite number Roberto Mancini following a defeat that exceeded the entertainment value for such fixtures and confirmed much of what we already knew of United – exhilarating on the break, but with an aversion to defending against prime Italian opposition.

Inter rekindled memories of their great city rival's Champions League semi-final performance against United last season in a first-half display that brought three goals. "Our defending was very poor in the first half and you'll not win any game, it doesn't matter who you are up against, if you defend like that," admitted the United manager.

An eventful night for Patrice Evra began with the 17th minute cross that provided Wayne Rooney with the game's opening goal. Three minutes later, however, his next contribution instigated a collapse not even friendly fixtures have often witnessed at Old Trafford when he misjudged a header from a Luis Figo free-kick and allowed Honduran striker David Suazo to poach from close range. The French full-back was then foolishly caught in possession when he attempted to round Dejan Stankovic deep inside his own half and the Serbian crossed for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to convert beyond Edwin van der Sar.

A crunching challenge from captain Marco Materazzi on Cristiano Ronaldo in the 33rd minute produced a third for the Italians and a second for Suazo as the speed of touch and thought from Ibrahimovic and Figo again tore the United defence apart. A classic centre-forward's header from Inter substitute Adriano, only in the wrong goal, brought United back into a contest played before a 73,738 crowd, a record for a pre-season friendly, but an outstanding save from Ronaldo by Julio Cesar plus an incredible miss from close range by Rio Ferdinand condemned the home side to their first defeat of the summer programme.

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