There were plenty of Manchester United players in action for their international teams on Thursday and Friday, so here is a recap of everything we got to see from them.
Portugal 4-0 Liechtenstein
Former European champions started their path towards another EURO qualification with a resounding 4-0 win over lowly Liechtenstein. In the easiest group of the entire qualifiers, Portugal defeated their first opponents thanks to two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo. Bruno Fernandes played really well for the entire 90 minutes, while Diogo Dalot was not on the pitch in Roberto Martinez’s first match in charge.
Italy 1-2 England
In the rematch of the last EURO final, England this time defeated Italy 2-1. Declan Rice and Harry Kane scored the goal, while United players got their bookings. Harry Maguire earned a yellow card in the 57th minute, while Luke Shaw was sent off – he got two yellow cards in the span of two minutes. Still, England managed to keep their lead.
Argentina 2-0 Panama
Argentina became the first champions of the world in 28 years to win their first match following the World Cup. Amazing celebrations at El Monumental made Lionel Messi shed the tears of joy, but afterwards, there were only smiles. Argentina won with two late goals, one of them from Messi himself. United’s Lisandro Martinez played in the second half instead of Nicolas Otamendi.
Japan 1-1 Uruguay
The Asian and South American team played a friendly match without a winner, with Federico Valverde scoring the goal for visitors. Facundo Pellistri started on the right wing and played for 68 minutes before getting substituted.
Ivory Coast 3-1 Comoros
Ivory Coast made a huge leap towards Africa Cup of Nations qualification with a comfortable win against Comoros. Eric Bailly played well for 86 minutes, while Amad Diallo remained on the bench throughout.
France 4-0 Netherlands
France did not just beat the Netherlands in the visitors’ first match in the post-Louis van Gaal era, they completely destroyed them. The World Cup finalists had a 2-0 lead after eight minutes and Kylian Mbappe scored the third after 21 minutes. He later on scored his second to make it a resounding victory. Tyrell Malacia came on after 87 minutes instead of the injured Geertruida.
Austria 4-1 Azerbaijan
It was Marcel Sabitzer who had the best time of all Man United players on international break so far. Man United midfielder on loan from Bayern was the captain in his team’s comfortable win against Azerbaijan and he scored two goals from midfield in the process. He added an assist for Christoph Baumgartner’s goal too, putting in a perfect performance for Austria’s strong start in the qualifiers.
Sweden 0-3 Belgium
In the same group, Belgium dispatched Sweden away from home 3-0 with a hat-trick from former Man United striker Romelu Lukaku. Current Man United defender Victor Lindelof captained the team for the entire 90 minutes, earned a yellow card and did not have a good time having to wrestle with the big Belgian. Zlatan Ibrahimovic later on also featured in this game.
Tunisia 3-0 Libya
Tunisia are also getting closer to the Africa Cup of Nations with a comfortable win against Libya. Hannibal Mejbri played for 83 minutes on the right of a front three. He had a good game, although he did not have a hand in any of the goals his team scored.
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