Manchester United’s seven biggest winners and four losers from international break

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The final international break of 2025 is over, and Manchester United had plenty of stars in action for their nations.

Ruben Amorim will be encouraged by the performances of several Manchester United players over the international break this month.

United had numerous players on international duty, but now all eyes are firmly on Monday night and the visit of Everton to Old Trafford as the busy festive season commences.

However, before looking ahead to this clash, who were the players representing United on international duty who were either winners or losers for their nations?

Winners

Firstly, the winners.

Bruno Fernandes: It was a hot and cold break for his country, but Fernandes’ importance to Portugal was proven, as without him, a loss to the Republic of Ireland was suffered.

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Back in the team against Armenia, Fernandes scored a hat-trick in a convincing 9-1 victory, which ended qualification for the World Cup on a high. Now, the hopes of Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo will be resting on Fernandes.

Senne Lammens: It was an international debut for Lammens this month as he kept a clean sheet during Belgium’s 7-0 thrashing of Liechtenstein.

Lammens will now hope to keep more of these for United and potentially make himself a contender to start during the World Cup

• READ: What makes Senne Lammens so good as Man Utd’s new first-choice goalkeeper

Shea Lacey: For Lacey, it was another excellent break for England at U20 level as he scored his team’s only goal against Japan, and an excellent goal at that.

Additionally, Lacey was called up into the U21 set-up for training, which shows they have their eyes on his development. Then Lacey returned to Carrington to continue pushing toward his debut for United.

• READ: What makes Shea Lacey one of the best prospects in England and a future Man Utd superstar

Casemiro: The resurgence of Casemiro continued over this international break. Carlo Ancelotti sang Casemiro’s praises as the midfielder continues to establish himself as the most important player in the Brazilian team.

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Casemiro was excellent for Brazil against Senegal, and if a sixth World Cup is heading to the Selecao next summer, he will be playing a key role.

Matheus Cunha: Despite not being among the goals, Cunha has been labelled ‘fundamental’ for Brazil in terms of his work rate, creativity and skill, with the local press stating he really deserves goals.

Cunha’s performances for club and country this season have been excellent, and it feels like a matter of time before the goals begin flowing for him.

Matthijs de Ligt: After a long international hiatus, De Ligt impressed for the Netherlands on his return to Ronald Koeman’s side, continuing an impressive campaign and cementing himself in the squad for the next break and surely the World Cup.

De Ligt will be desperate to play in the World Cup, and his performances are earning him that spot game after game.

Noussair Mazraoui: Back in international action for Morocco, Mazraoui put in a masterful display, which showed him to be the main man for his nation once again in all aspects of the game.

Now, he needs to find this form for the Red Devils.

Losers

There were also losers for United.

Amad: Heading into the break, Amad had already qualified for the World Cup, and it is just as well that this break wasn’t competitive games, as the Ivory Coast lost once and won once.

Amad played in the defeat to Saudi Arabia but didn’t feature in a 2-0 win over Oman, which sees an extended rest ahead of Monday night.

Patrick Dorgu: While it was a personally good break for Dorgu, he and his Denmark teammates will feel like losers having lost to Scotland and therefore missed out on automatic World Cup qualification.

Dorgu scored, but it will be bitterly disappointing that qualification now rests on two games in March.

Bryan Mbeumo: Despite all the quality in the Cameroon side, Mbeumo won’t be heading to the World Cup as his nation failed to qualify.

This will be a painful blow for the 26-year-old but United will be quietly pleased because it means he will be in pre-season next summer from day one.

Diogo Dalot: Portugal qualified for the World Cup over the break, and it is no shock, with so much quality at Roberto Martinez’s disposal.

However, with such competition for places, Dalot’s poor form and struggles in the 2-0 loss to Ireland will only see him fall down the pecking order.