David de Gea and Ángel Di María featured in the tale of two Manchester United players whose unclear futures were highlighted by this 3-1 win against Barcelona. De Gea, who is a target for Real Madrid, donned the red livery for the first time since being injured during a draw with Arsenal in last season’s penultimate game. Di María was due to join Louis van Gaal’s squad after this match, yet afterwards senior executives refused to dismiss reports he is on the brink of moving to Paris Saint-Germain. It later emerged the forward had not boarded the plane to San Jose as expected. The prevailing focus of the United manager has to be the side, of course. When this encounter kicked off the clock started ticking on the final 180 minutes of match action before the Premier League begins on 8 August. After this outing only Wednesday’s closing tour match against PSG remains until Tottenham Hotspur visit Old Trafford. This moved Van Gaal to state the strongest XI he could select was to contest the opening hour against Barça and PSG, after previously selecting two different outfield teams. So out strode De Gea, Matteo Darmian, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Daley Blind, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick, Memphis Depay, Juan Mata, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney, the captain. Bastian Schweinsteiger’s minor injury prevented Van Gaal from playing him. Yet within eight minutes the Dutchman could smile as United took the lead. This was simple stuff. Young floated over a corner, Adriano failed to clear and Rooney headed home beyond Marc André ter Stegen. It would have been merely the equaliser if Luis Suárez’s earlier free-kick had been precisely guided. Instead, the No9 bent his effort beyond United’s wall but hit De Gea’s left post. The Spaniard appeared sharp considering his shortage of football. When Rafinha put Sergi Roberto in De Gea made a fine save from the ensuing shot. This came after the 24-year-old had taken a high ball and was followed by similar impressive work in front of his posts.
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