International roundup: 3 Manchester United stars taste victory, can another tonight?

Some of Manchester United’s biggest stars were in action in the first round of international fixtures this weekend and with more playing tonight, Ollie Slack provides the latest roundup of the international Red Devils.

After contrasting fortunes on Thursday between Scott McTominay’s Scotland and Antonio Valencia’s Ecuador, it was the turn of the World Champion Paul Pogba to fly the flag for United. His French side came up against Moldova in their opening match of the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

The United number six was involved right away setting up Antoine Greizman with a beautifully weighted assist to open the scoring in the match. The flood gates soon opened as three minutes later Raphael Varane made it two. Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mpabbe each got on the score sheet to stretch their lead to four before Moldova pulled one back in the 89th minute.

France are next in action on Monday night against Iceland in their second Euro qualifier. Paul Pogba is once again expected to be involved again.

Despite not having Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw at their disposal, England thrashed Czech Republic 5-0 at Wembley on Friday night. Jadon Sancho, who Ali Akbar understands United are interested in signing this summer, set up Raheem Sterling for the opening goal.

Saturday’s action

Saturday saw two more Manchester United players take to the field. Firstly, Eric Bailly captained Ivory Coast to a 3-0 victory in their last match in Group H of the African Cup of Nations qualifying. The United centre-half had a mixed match though, after scoring The Elephants second goal he then had to be substituted due to a clash of heads which prompted a frantic response from his teammates.

However, the Ivory Coast Instagram account posted a picture of Bailly speaking to the media after the game claiming he was ok.

David de Gea experienced a less troubling evening against Norway yesterday for Spain. United’s number one faced two shots on target the whole match, one resulting in a goal, though.

Spain did take the lead, but only for ex-Manchester United Joshua King to equalise from the penalty spot. Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos sealed the win for the 2010 World Champions, also from the penalty spot.

Who’s playing on Sunday?

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs took to the dugout at Cardiff City’s stadium as his Welsh side defeated Slovakia 1-0 this afternoon. It is Wales’ second victory this week, after beating Trinidad and Tobago by the same scoreline on Wednesday.

Tonight, Romelu Lukaku’s Belgium take on Cyprus, although the striker is not fit to play. Scott McTominay is in the Scotland squad that plays San Marino at 5pm (GMT), he is on the bench for Alex McLeish’s side.

Scotland will be hoping to bounce back after Thursday nights embarrassing 3-0 loss to Kazakhstan.