Man United stars fire clear response to Virgil van Dijk after Matthijs de Ligt criticism

Matthijs de Ligt has jumped over his first hurdle as a Manchester United player.

The 25-year-old touched down at Old Trafford this summer in a £60million double deal with Noussair Mazraoui as the now-former Bayern Munich teammates were re-united with Erik ten Hag - their old Ajax manager. De Ligt was on-target for United against Southampton as the Dutchman got off the mark for his new side.

However, the clean sheet at St. Mary's will have pleased him most of all, especially after public criticism from one high-profile international colleague. Virgil van Dijk raised one or two eyebrows during September's break when he slammed De Ligt for his mistake against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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The Netherlands were 5-2 winners in that Nations League game. However, the United centre-back was hauled off at half-time after his slip in possession allowed Denis Undav to score.

"This is football," said Netherlands captain van Dijk after that match. "You have to learn from this.

"It was one moment. But at the highest level you will get punished for it."

De Ligt and his United teammates were back in domestic action on Saturday lunchtime and he provided a perfect answer to that criticism. The ex-Ajax, Juventus and Bayern defender opened the scoring - before further goals from Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho rubber-stamped three points at St. Mary's.

After the final whistle, De Ligt jumped on to Instagram to post a message to his followers. Uploading two pictures from the match, he added a short caption.

It read: "Great fight from the team today and a deserved three points. Carabao Cup next."

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