In a season like no other, there’s hardly any time to reflect on this year’s World Cup campaign with Manchester United gearing up to take on Burnley in Wednesday’s League Cup clash.
Both Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane will be given extended time off to look back on the tournament, albeit with very different feelings, before they return to Carrington. The former didn’t feature in the final but got his hands on the trophy while the latter succumbed to extreme fatigue deep into extra time, and thankfully nothing more.
The defensive duo will not feature against Championship leaders Burnley and most likely neither versus Nottingham Forest next Tuesday (December 27). Christian Eriksen exited the World Cup at the group stages with Denmark but it’s not concrete he will start on Wednesday.
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There’s even more haziness over the availability of the stars who made it to the knock-outs, although one player who made it to the quarter-finals looks a dead cert. With Varane and Martinez unavailable while Teden Mengi and Axel Tuanzebe are not fit, Harry Maguire will almost certainly be the defender who partners Victor Lindelof at centre-half.
Maguire had an impressive tournament with England and by the time kick-off against Burnley comes around, it will have been 11 days since the Three Lions bowed out to France. Lindelof, who didn’t travel to Qatar after Sweden’s failure to qualify, is the only other centre-half available.
Frenchman Anthony Martial was ignored by Didier Deschamps meaning he stayed at home too. Following the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo, he is the only recognised number nine Erik ten Hag has in his first-team and so his omission from his country’s squad in many ways was a blessing.
He will undoubtedly start against Burnley, as will fellow World-Cup-snubbed star David de Gea. Luis Enrique’s cold shoulder to the goalkeeper was not unexpected but perhaps his game time during this month’s trip to Spain was.
The shot-stopper only played 45 minutes as Martin Dubravka and Tom Heaton were given run-outs, although it’s probable De Gea featured in the 1-1 behind-closed-doors friendly with Everton last week.
Finally, starboy Alejandro Garnacho will get the nod. He showed some classy movements in both training and friendlies during the mid-season break.
The 18-year-old put an exclamation mark on the end of the first-half of the Premier League season with his stoppage-time winner against Fulham in United’s 2-1 win. He’s grabbed two goals and two assists in his last four competitive outings and will spy Burnley as an opportunity to keep his form going.
Jadon Sancho did not travel to Spain with United as he completed an individualised programme away from the group. The availability of Diogo Dalot is uncertain with the prognosis of the injury that forced him off in Portugal’s shock quarter-final defeat to Morocco not yet detailed.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka featured in both friendlies against Cadiz and Real Betis but he is far from a shoo-in if Dalot is not available. Teammates Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford, Tyrell Malacia, Casemiro, Antony, Fred and Portugal colleague Bruno Fernandes also bowed out at the last-eight and it remains to be seen what their involvement is at Burnley with other options available, unlike in the case of Maguire.
Like Eriksen, the debut-less Facundo Pellistri returned home after the group stages after Uruguay suffered an early exit although he is expected to be at least named in the squad for Wednesday's tie.
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