What transpired during Manchester United’s private friendly match against Barnsley, where two important players would miss three games because of…

Man Utd faced Barnsley in a behind-closed-doors friendly match at Carrington on Tuesday afternoon.

Manchester United beat Barnsley 3-0 in a friendly at Carrington on Tuesday, with several first-team players short of minutes featuring against the League One club.

The behind-closed-doors game saw United take on a Barnsley side that was also made up of fringe players, and it was the Premier League outfit who ran out comfortable winners.

Donny van de Beek and Antony both started the game, with the latter building up his match fitness ahead of a possible return to the starting XI against Sheffield United after the international break.

Antony missed just over two weeks of training after being given a leave of absence to address allegations of abuse, which he strongly denies, and since returning to Carrington, he has come off the bench against Galatasaray and Brentford

Van de Beek has played just 21 minutes for United this season across two substitute appearances and had been expected to leave in the summer. He isn’t registered in the Champions League squad but is understood to have been among the goalscorers against Barnsley.

Kobbie Mainoo was originally pencilled in to play but his return to action was delayed after United coaches deemed it too soon for him to feature after a lengthy lay-off.

The 18-year-old has not played for United since sustaining an ankle injury in the first minutes of a pre-season defeat to Real Madrid, and club coaches do not want to risk bringing him back too soon.