Once again the international break has arrived and Manchester United players have been in action all over the world, here’s how they got on.
Erik ten Hag got the opportunity to see four of his senior players represent their countries on Thursday night, or the early hours of Friday morning. This ranged from the club captain to squad players to those who have little time on their Manchester United contracts.
As a whole, the Dutchman was likely pleased with what he saw. The four Manchester United players in action were Bruno Fernandes, Facundo Pellistri, Scott McTominay and Victor Lindelof. Out of the four, overall it was a successful night for those contracted to the Old Trafford side.
So here is our round-up of how United players fared in international games for their nations…
Bruno Fernandes – Portugal
Fernandes and his Portugal teammates continued to make a mockery of qualifying Group J on Thursday. Nine games, nine wins, 34 goals scored and just two conceded show just how straightforward this group has been for them, with Fernandes at the forefront.
The United captain himself has 12 goal contributions in the competition yet somehow wasn’t involved in any during a dominant 2-0 victory against Liechtenstein. Fernandes did however make two key passes amid a 97-touch performance according to SofaScore, which gave him a rating of 7.1.
He was slightly off his game compared to usual while facing a weak opponent, which could indicate fatigue. Hopefully Roberto Martinez will give him a rest in the next game against Iceland and he can return full of energy for our trip to Goodison, a week on Sunday.
Facundo Pellistri – Uruguay
Pellistri has almost become a forgotten figure for United in recent weeks after a brief spell in the first-team – barring his quality cameo against Fulham two weeks ago. Despite this, he continues to be a regular for his country and started against Argentina in the early hours this morning.
The young winger played 88 minutes for Uruguay as they overcame World Champions Argentina 2-0 away from home. According to SofaScore, Pellistri was a consistent threat down the right side for Marcelo Bielsa’s side completing four dribbles and six duels while matched up against former United target Nicolas Tagliafico.
Besides that, he wasn’t too involved, as you’d expect with his team only having 37% possession. Erik ten Hag will have been impressed by what he saw when Pellistri got the ball as he was a consistent threat.
Scott McTominay – Scotland
Manchester United’s only Scottish international has made quite the habit of impressing while on international duty. That trend has continued in his most recent outing during a 2-2 draw. McTominay has played an integral role in Scotland qualifying for next summer’s European Championships with such ease.
Against Georgia in Scotland’s penultimate qualifier, McTominay scored yet another goal which took his tally to seven in total during qualifying. This goal leaves him tied as the third top scorer, joint with Harry Kane and our own Rasmus Hojlund… not bad company to keep.
McTominay enjoyed a brilliant outing and now awaits the final game against Norway on Sunday.
Victor Lindelof – Sweden
It was a nightmare outing for Lindelof in what could be a dooming result against Azerbaijan. A 3-0 thumping leaves Sweden joint on points with the side that just defeated them heavily ahead of the final game against Estonia on Sunday.
Sweden can’t qualify already but Lindelof will be keen to see his country finish third as opposed to fourth, however, he will have to do better than he did last night. Three goals conceded to a 10-man Azerbaijan side isn’t a great look especially as he looks to prove himself worthy of a new contract at Old Trafford.
He made an error early in the game for Azerbaijan’s opener. After that he saw plenty of the ball, with 106 touches and a 85% pass completion rate as per SofaScore.
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