It was a quieter weekend than usual for Manchester United with the international break under way, yet there were still points of interest for fans to take note of and Your Monday Briefing is here to round up the essential headlines for Reds supporters…
LINGARD THE HERO FOR ENGLAND
Jesse scored his first-ever goal for the Three Lions on Friday night in a 1-0 away win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Marcus Rashford also looked lively as manager Gareth Southgate’s centre-forward and both Academy graduates were substitutes with 22 minutes left, before Ashley Young came on to see out an encouraging win over Ronald Koeman’s Dutch team.
MCTOMINAY MADE HIS SCOTLAND DEBUT
Scott took his international bow at Hampden Park and played for 58 minutes, as Alex McLeish’s team suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica following a goal scored by Marco Urena. Jose Mourinho travelled up to Glasgow to watch the United youngster in action and sat in the stand next to former Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay. Scotland are next in action against Hungary on Tuesday, but McTominay will not feature after leaving the squad on Monday morning due to injury.
Elsewhere on Friday night, Nemanja Matic's Serbia were beaten by Morocco in Turin and a France side featuring Paul Pogba lost to Colombia in Paris. David De Gea also impressed as Spain drew with Germany, while Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian were all unused substitutes as Argentina beat Italy at the Etihad Stadium, where fans were also shocked not to see Lionel Messi.
ALEXIS BEAT LINDELOF IN STOCKHOLM
The two United team-mates were opponents on Saturday night and Alexis came out on top, after Chile secured a 2-1 win in Stockholm. Our no.7 wore the captain’s armband and saw a goal disallowed, before his shot led to debutant Marcos Bolados scoring a late winner for the visitors. Later on, Eric Bailly played the full match as Ivory Coast drew 2-2 with Togo at Stade Pierre Brisson.
RUSSIA V FRANCE ON MUTV
We’d like to remind you that MUTV are showing France's international friendly against World Cup hosts Russia on Tuesday, which will hopefully feature United stars Pogba and Anthony Martial. The coverage will start at 16:30 BST, ahead of the 16:50 BST kick-off, and fans can sign up via MUTV.com.
UNDER-23S HEADING TO SCOTLAND
It was confirmed on Sunday that the Reserves are spending time in Scotland before the must-win game against Sunderland at Old Trafford on 6 April. Ricky Sbragia's Under-23s will play a friendly against Dunfermline and spend time at the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre in Largs.
“It's a lovely place,” Sbragia told ManUtd.com ahead of the trip. “It's a high-spec facility. The facilities and the food are lovely, and the rooms are nice - quite basic, which is good. We'll do gym work and a double session but we're down to the bare knuckle a bit with 12 outfield players and four keepers coming along. Dunfermline will play a mix of first-teamers, Under-23s and youngsters so we'll focus on them first and then Sunderland, which is a must-win game for us.”
THE DALLAS CUP HAS BEGUN
United opened the prestigious youth tournament in Texas with a 2-2 draw against Tigres, thanks to a fine comeback. The Mexicans built a commanding lead, thanks partly to a Brandon Williams own goal, in front of a record 20,644 crowd at the Cotton Bowl. But Kieran McKenna's side fought back via strikes from Mason Greenwood and James Garner. Our next fixture is against Toronto FC on Monday night at 20:00 BST.