Manchester United on Tuesday night defeated Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 with first half goals by Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial and a second half strike by substitute Fred at Old Trafford to commence post legendary Cristiano Ronaldo era.

Meanwhile, the Red Devils were able to pull the victory missing key players after being hit by an illness bug with Scott McTominay and Victor Lindelof among those missing out in the action.

Erik ten Hag had picked Luke Shaw at centre-half in a makeshift back four for the encounter at Old Trafford, partnering Raphael Varane who started just nine days on from starting in the World Cup final.

Harry Maguire was back among the subs after struggling with his own bout of illness believed to have been picked up while away with England.

Remarkably, Maguire reportedly made the decision to make himself available for the visit of Forest on the night but with Lisandro Martinez still away following Argentina’s World Cup success which left United boss short of options at the back.

United confirmed illness in the camp had ruled out Lindelof and McTominay with Casemiro, who dropped into defence against Burnley last week, returning to his regular midfield role.

‘Harry made it but he was not fit to start and that is why he is on the bench.So we have to be a bit creative,’ ten Hag told Amazon Prime ahead of kick-off.

‘Yesterday we took the decision but we were then waiting overnight to see who could recover

‘But the only one who was definitely much better than yesterday was Harry. So the other two were unavailable.’

Diogo Dalot meanwhile is also unavailable with the Portugal international still recovering from an injury suffered while on World Cup duty in Qatar.

Meanwhile, Varane’s availability was a major boost for the Red De.

The France international limped off in extra time after that exhausting clash against Argentina with ten Hag revealing the player has insisted he is ready to come straight back into the side.

‘I had a talk with him [Varane] yesterday, Raphaël takes responsibility and that is why he is so successful, winning so many trophies and he is so important to the squad,’ ten Hag said.

‘He said “I am ready, play me”.’