Man Utd give injury update on three players as Erik ten Hag issues damning Dortmund verdict

Manchester United finished their US pre-season tour with a 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas.

After a good start in America, Erik ten Hag’s side ended the trip to the States with consecutive losses against Wrexham, Real Madrid and Dortmund. United flew back to Manchester after the defeat in the early hours of Monday morning, with Diogo Dalot and Antony on target in the Dortmund encounter.

Ten Hag dropped a number of key players for the match, including the likes of Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. Instead, the Red Devils selected a weaker XI that included Tom Heaton, Brandon Williams, Omari Forson and Facundo Pellistri, among others.

But there were three notable absentees from the squad, with Raphael Varane, Amad and Alejandro Garnacho missing. United revealed via their website that the trio were all unavailable due to injury.

“Alejandro Garnacho and Raphael Varane were left out of the 26-man matchday squad for precautionary reasons,” the club explained. “Amad was another player not involved at the Allegiant Stadium, with the Ivorian having a knee issue which requires assessment.”

While the injuries to Varane and Garnacho don’t seem concerning at this stage, Amad’s problem could prove more troublesome. The winger was replaced against Arsenal on 22 July with what appeared to be a nasty injury and was seen using crutches after the game. Yet Amad was deemed fit enough to be named on the bench against Madrid last week, although he didn’t come on.

Meanwhile, Ten Hag was disappointed with the performance of his team in the final 30 minutes against Dortmund. The Dutchman made 10 changes by the hour mark with the side that finished closer to his strongest XI. Yet it was the latter group that disappointed the United boss.

Asked for his verdict on the game, Ten Hag told MUTV: “Two parts - first hour [was] good, well performing, playing as a team, lot of dynamic, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see. That is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time and then all of a sudden they gave two goals away and they really were giveaways.

“So that was already annoying but the last half an hour was bad, was a poor performance. Didn’t follow the rules at all, not in pressing, not in building up and not in attacking, so there were 11 individuals finally on the pitch and that wasn’t good at all.”