Manchester United’s solid start to pre-season continued with a 3-0 win over Norwegian side Valerenga at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo. 

Goals from Marouane Fellaini, Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay ensured a routine result for Jose Mourinho’s side, with the Red Devils ascendant from the off. 

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Mourinho opted to start Marcus Rashford up top, with summer signing Lukaku warming the bench and the Belgian’s incisiveness in front of goal was missing as the Premier League giants took a while before they found the breakthrough. 

Henrikh Mkhitaryan had a good chance in the 2nd minute but his first-touch took him wide and Valerenga goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey made a smart stop with his feet. 

Paul Pogba, massively unlucky last season with a number of attempts that hit the woodwork, let loose a stunning left-footed shot that much to his and his team’s dismay, cannoned off the post with Kwarasey well beaten in the 14th minute. 

United custodian Sergio Romero was a virtual spectator with his side camped in the opposition half in the first period, but for all their dominance, the Red Devils seemed unable to find the back of the net. 

It was left to Fellaini, linked with a move away from Old Trafford recently, to power home a header from Mkhitaryan’s cross a minute before half-time. While the ball got a slight deflection off a defender, it was always goal bound and crucially, United had a lead at the interval. 

As expected, Mourinho made sweeping changes to his side for the second-half, with Lukaku and Anthony Martial and Ander Herrera among the notable introductions. 

Valerenga, seventh in the Norwegian Eliteserien, put in some fresh faces as well but it was United who scored with barely a minute on the clock.

Andreas Pereira’s corner from the left found Lukaku, who outmuscled his marker to head home in the 47th minute and the Red Devils, playing in their grey away jersey, looked in total command then. 

Martial and Lukaku were combining well and causing panic in the Valerenga defence with their powerful running.

The Norwegian had one solid chance on the night, on a fast break and really should have got a goal back but Ghayas Zahid skied his shot from inside the box to let United off with a reprieve.  And the result was put to bed when United youngster McTominay, introduced on the hour-mark,  finished well from an acute angle in the 70th minute after some good work from Martial again. 

United had a couple of chances to score a fourth, with McTominay and Lukaku heavily involved but were unable to add to the scoreline. But it was an pretty comfortable win for the Red Devils and Mourinho would be hard-pressed to find any flaws in his side’s display.

Their last pre-season game awaits, a tie against Serie A side Sampdoria, at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday before they face Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup on August 8.