Manchester United take on Spanish giants Real Madrid in Houston, Texas, at 1:30am this morning.
It may be a task covering this match with so little sleep, but it’s times like this I sympathise with United fans living in countries where they regularly watch games at this time or later.
After all, this is United’s headline friendly of pre-season against one of Europe’s best teams.
United took on Wrexham with a youthful side on Wednesday morning. That ended in a 3-1 defeat with goalkeeper Nathan Bishop making the headlines after puncturing Paul Mullen’s lung.
However, the focus now is on the game against Real Madrid, in the 72,220-capacity NRG Stadium.
Andre Onana makes his debut between the sticks.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw start in their preferred full-back roles, while Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane pair up at centre-back.
Casemiro will be joined in midfielder by Kobbie Mainoo with Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount pushed further forward.
Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho start up front.
Manchester United XI: Onana, Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Shaw, Casemiro, Mainoo, Fernandes, Mount, Garnacho, Rashford.
Real Madrid
Los Blancos go into the game after beating AC Milan 3-2 on Sunday night, so it makes sense for Ten Hag to field a strong team.
Real Madrid XI: Lenin; Carvajal, Rudiger, Alaba, Fran Garcia; Tchouameni, Camavinga; Modric, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr.
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