Three Manchester United players’ sat out their final international fixtures last night, but it’s been a busy week for the Red Devils finest. Ollie Slack provides you with the latest round up and picks out the best performers over the last few days.
Manchester United’s international stars will soon be heading back to the AON Training Complex in Carrington to prepare for Saturday’s Premier League match with Watford. However, last night, three players were still duty bound to pull on their nations jersey and deliver a winning performance.
But, it was a quiet night for them all with Eric Bailly, David de Gea and Antonio Valencia not featuring for their countries.
Bailly’s Ivory Coast side were taking on Liberia in a friendly having already secured qualification the African Cup of Nations finals against Rwanda on Saturday. In that match, the United centre-back scored but also suffered a nasty clash of heads. Therefore it seemed only sensible to rest him for last night’s insignificant friendly.
The match looked as though it would end in a bore-draw but Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia stepped up from the penalty spot in the 91st minute to give Ivory Coast the win.
It was Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata, who is currently on loan at AC Milan who netted a brace to give Spain a 2-0 victory and continue their 100 per cent record in qualifying so far.
And finally, Antonio Valencia was rested on the bench for Ecuador yesterday. After completing his first 90 minutes since January the 2nd on Thursday it seemed fair to give the United stalwart a breather.
Hopefully, this can spur Valencia on to finish the season strongly for United and end his 10-year association with the club on a high.
Which United player has performed best this international break?
Individually, club captain Antonia Valencia will be pleased to back out on the field playing again after a lengthy lay-off due to injury.
But Paul Pogba once again stole the show. And not for all the right reasons! Every time he goes away on international duty his credibility amongst United fans seems to take a hit when he returns.
As much as on the field he has shown what a talented individual he is, talking to the press about his future far too openly again and flirting with moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona will not be music to United fan’s ears.
The reception he receives against Watford on Saturday could be interesting. I’m not sure how many more times he can speculate before the fans start to turn.