United Briefing: Fred & Telles’s best opponents

But who is the most-challenging opponent our first-team players have come up against? That’s a question we’ve previously posed to Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, while ex-Reds Ryan Giggs and Bryan Robson have also made their selections in the past.

And speaking in a Q&A session with fans, our Brazilian duo of Alex Telles and Fred are also asked to choose their toughest competitors by supporter Stewart K from Uganda, as you can below.

For Alex, the defender reveals he actually faced his trickiest opponent when making his United debut in October.

“I've come up against a lot of difficult opponents,” Telles reflects. “I answered the same question last week and nothing has changed.

“Neymar was one of the hardest players to mark given his quality, speed and intelligence both with the national team and when we played against PSG.

“He's a highly versatile player with the power to make such quick decisions, so you have to really concentrate.

“He was one of the hardest players to mark for me and I'm sure numerous other players will say the same thing.”

Fred also selects a South American, but not one from his native Brazil.

Instead, our no.17’s choice comes from a match during his maiden United campaign, in 2018/19.

“Neymar is a great player, it is so difficult to mark him,” Fred says, in agreement with Alex. “For me, I think the toughest player I came up against was [Lionel] Messi; he's out of this world, he's a genius. 

“For me he's the best in the world, a great player and I think he's the toughest opponent I've played against.”

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the first-team squad are training for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Granada.

The competition is a chance to win a trophy and the boss is busy implementing his tactical approach at the Aon Training Complex, with the group set to travel on Wednesday. Look out for images and videos from the session later today.

We'll also provide the early team news and preview the last-eight tie on the continent, highlighting all of the essential pre-match info.

Elsewhere, there will be another round of Media Watch, as we bring you all the latest United headlines and gossip.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY?

Our Bank Holiday Monday was packed with reaction to Sunday's comeback victory Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford.

Ole was delighted with the result and the performance of Mason Greenwood in particular. The boss feels the teenager’s winner against the Seagulls was reminiscent of another important United goal this season.

Bruno Fernandes also offered advice for Greenwood following his winning goal, which meant we have now secured 25 Premier League points from losing positions this season.

Other trending articles included the updates on Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Eric Bailly.

Elsewhere on Monday, the latest episode of UTD Podcast was released.

This week’s show features former goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw and the Dutchman reflects on his time at Old Trafford, explaining why he was willing to provide back-up for Peter Schmeichel. He also speaks about how the Great Dane was occasionally hard to work with - but it was worth it. 

Our MUTV Group chat squad were also back in action and reflected on Sunday’s win over Brighton, as well as previewing the midweek clash with Granada.