Manchester United’s kicked off their Premier League season with a thumping 5-1 home win over Leeds.
The match saw Old Trafford back at full capacity for the first time since the 2-0 Manchester derby win in March 2020, before the Covid pandemic.
Here is a look at United’s four best players from the match, on an afternoon where nobody played badly…
Bruno Fernandes
Where else can you start?
Bruno was magnificent throughout the game here, setting the tone with his pressing and finding space between the lines.
This was his first ever Premier League hat-trick and it was certainly a statement of intent.
He was the first United player to score a hat-trick on the opening day of a Premier League season since 1977, when Lou Macari did it.
This performance bodes very well for the rest of the season.
Paul Pogba
Usually when a player scores a hat-trick, there’s no debate over who should be man of the match.
The fact that Pogba was even in that conversation shows how good he was here.
Pogba notched up four assists, and is the first United player in Premier League history to do so.
He was given freedom to roam from the left of midfield and used it to devastating effect.
Mason Greenwood
With Edinson Cavani absent and Anthony Martial on the bench, Greenwood led the line for United here.
He looked sharp throughout, pulling Leeds’ central defenders out of position and linking the play well.
And when United needed an unerring finish just after Luke Ayling’s stunner had made it 1-1, Greenwood didn’t disappoint.
It was a superb response as United showed great character to muscle the game away from Leeds.
Greenwood has had a full pre-season and looked redy to hit the ground running here.
Scott McTominay
McTominay had only played 20 minutes of pre-season before this game, but showed no signs of that here.
Just like he did in last season’s corresponding fixture, he ran all over Leeds’ midfield and broke into the box at will.
He didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet this time around but it was a very impressive display.
As we said above, nobody played badly and Victor Lindelof or goalscorer Fred could easily have got praise too.
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