Behind the scenes as Man Utd train for Liverpool friendly
Manchester United managed to secure a comfortable win over Liverpool in front of a capacity crowd at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Monday. Erik ten Hag named a strong side to face United's greatest rivals and his determination to trouble the Reds was duly rewarded, with his players racing into a three-goal lead before the half-time whistle.
Jadon Sancho opened the scoring for United after just 12 minutes, with the England ace firing home from close range after finding the ball at his feet in space. Fred went on to put the Red Devils two up with a delightful chip from the edge of the box that sailed over the head of Alisson Becker and into the back of the net.
Anthony Martial struck again for United just moments later with a deft flick that bounced over the line as he raced through on goal, before Facundo Pellistri got in on the act to finish off a sweeping counter-attack in the closing stages of the match. The result marked a huge win for Ten Hag in his first outing as United's new manager, but it remains to be seen whether their stunning performance against Liverpool will become a regular occurrence during the Dutchman's time at Old Trafford.
Follow Express Sport's live updates below.
United ran out comfortable winners against Liverpool on Monday (Image: GETTY)
Thanks for joining us to follow this afternoon's pre-season friendly between Manchester United and Liverpool, with the Red Devils finding the back of the net on four occasions to secure a comfortable victory in Thailand.
"Of course we are satisfied because it was a team with great spirit, but we’ve just started," says United boss Erik ten Hag in his post-match interview.
"Our team was brave and proactive. We made some mistakes with pressing but created a lot.
"I know we have good players. Believe me I have seen a lot of mistakes. It will take a lot of time, we have not overestimated this result."
The referee blows the full-time whistle to hand United a comfortable victory over Liverpool in their first pre-season match!
The Red Devils produced a highly clinical performance to down their bitter rivals and give Erik ten Hag a winning start to life as the club's new manager.
Meanwhile, an experimental outing for Liverpool ends in a heavy defeat.
Liverpool slump to a big defeat at the hands of United (Image: GETTY)
GOAL! Man Utd 4-0 Liverpool - Facundo Pellistri (77)
United strike again!
Facundo Pellistri slides the ball past Alisson Becker with a perfect first-time finish to wrap up a devastating counter-attack.
However, it all started with Eric Bailly, who stepped out to win possession in his own half before turning creator as he raced up the pitch with the ball at his feet.
What a performance this has been from the Red Devils!
\u26a1\ufe0f @FPellistri07 finishes off a lightning counter to slot home our fourth \ud83d\ude2e\u200d\ud83d\udca8#MUFC || #MUTOUR22
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah combine beautifully down the right-hand side, with Tyrell Malacia unable to prevent the former from bursting away on the flank.
His early cross falls well short, though, before United manage to regain possession.
United have enjoyed plenty of the ball over the last few minutes.
They are knocking it around nicely in defence, with Tyrell Malacia already having registered a number of touches as he looks to settle into the action.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he will be looking to give opportunities to every single player against United in order to get some much-needed minutes into the legs of his Reds stars.
"Everyone is hopefully able to play half an hour, so we will change twice the whole team," he tells LFCTV.
"Interesting and we will see where we will stand."
Erik ten Hag has insisted that his United players are as well-prepared as they can be for this afternoon's fixture, which is set to get underway in around 20 minutes' time
"It's something to have the first game immediately against Liverpool, one of the best teams in the world at this moment," he said.
"I'm really looking forward to it. The players are ready for it, we've had some good training sessions.
"Of course, there is still a lot to be developed. You cannot expect that everything comes automatically.
"Some misunderstandings will come up, but then you have to fight and battle for each other, stick with each other and play this game through."
Erik ten Hag will take charge of his first United game today (Image: GETTY)
Bruno Fernandes has insisted that he and his United team-mates are fully aware of the significance of any match against Liverpool, regardless of whether the two rivals meet in pre-season or in the Premier League.
"We know what that kind of game means to our fans," said the Portuguese midfielder.
"Obviously, this is the first game of pre-season but anywhere you want to win, and you want to win these kind of games too, even if it’s a friendly match."
There is no place in United's starting line-up for new arrival Tyrell Malacia, who has been named among the substitutes for today's match against Liverpool.
A number of academy prospects will also be involved in some capacity, with the likes of Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage and Alejandro Garnacho having been selected as part of Erik ten Hag's first matchday squad.
Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, is absent after he was granted additional time off to deal with a family issue.
\ud83d\udccb\ud83d\udc47 Just dropped: our first starting XI of #MUTOUR22! \ud83d\udd34\ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\udded#MUFC
Liverpool new boy Darwin Nunez will be forced to settle for a place on the bench against United, although the Uruguayan forward will almost certainly get a chance to strut his stuff over the course of the 90 minutes.
Fabio Carvalho will feature from the first whistle, though, to mark his first Reds appearance since officially joining the club from Fulham earlier this month.
Diogo Jota, meanwhile, is forced to miss out on today's fixture as he continues to recover from an injury.
\u26aa Here\u2019s how we line-up for our first pre-season outing of 2022 \u26aa#LFCPreSeason
Hello and welcome to Express Sport's coverage of today's pre-season friendly between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Stay tuned for all the build-up to the game and live updates from the Rajamangala National Stadium, with the on-pitch action set to get underway at 2pm.
We'll also be bringing you the confirmed team news from both camps very shortly.
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