How Manchester United should line up vs Real Madrid in pre-season friendly

Manchester United are set to play Spanish giants Real Madrid in Houston, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday.

United played their fourth game of pre-season against Wrexham early on Wednesday morning, but given the Welsh side have just gained promotion to League Two, an academy side was fielded for that clash in San Diego.

The first-team travelling tour squad will now take on Real Madrid in Houston at the 72,220-capacity NRG Stadium.

Our writers have had their say on how United should line up against Madrid...

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Samuel Luckhurst

United might as well play their strongest possible team now that all of the senior players have got at least 45 minutes under their belt. As harsh as it may be to take Kobbie Mainoo out of the starting XI, he is due a half against Madrid and, whoever he is pitted against, the step-up might be high.

Casemiro has not played with Mason Mount yet and they are United's main midfielders for the forthcoming season. Diogo Dalot needs to regain momentum and Marcus Rashford is their best left winger.

Tyrone Marshall

This is United's headline friendly of pre-season against one of Europe's best teams and a side who looked sharp in beating AC Milan 3-2 on Sunday night, when some of their players got more than a half in what was a good run out. So it makes sense for Ten Hag to give his strongest team the chance to play.

That begins with a debut for Onana, while Wan-Bissaka, Varane and Martinez are far enough into pre-season to play more than a half now. Shaw is the obvious candidate at left-back.

Casemiro played the second half against Arsenal and Mainoo has been outstanding, but it's worth giving Casemiro, Mount and Fernandes the