Manchester United are beaten 3-0 by Burnley in a secret behind-closed-doors friendly – with first-team stars Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay and Facundo Pellistri all in the starting XI

Manchester United were beaten 3-0 by Burnley in a friendly behind closed doors on Wednesday at their training complex in Carrington.

Erik ten Hag makes a habit of using the current break between Premier League games to give game minutes to his players, after United played Everton in a similar outing last week.

Jacob Bruun Larsen, Jay Rodriguez and Zeki Amdouni scored for the Clarets as Vincent Kompany’s men scored some much-needed minutes ahead of their clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.

Burnley did not play last weekend as their game against Luton was postponed due to construction work on Kenilworth Road.

A number of United’s first-team players who suffered pre-season injuries or didn’t get as many minutes as they would have liked have been at the forefront of friendlies.

Both Anthony Martial (left) and Scott McTominay (right) began United’s sad friendly defeat

Jacob Bruun Larsen, who joined the Clarets this summer, scored during the midweek friendly

The starters in Wednesday’s close-door loss included Jonny Evans, Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay and Facundo Pellistri.

Northern Irishman Evans is still waiting for a solution for his future after he signed a short-term deal with United during pre-season and the club were in talks over a permanent contract.

Van de Beek is one of the players looking to use these opportunities to maximize his chances of more minutes in Ten Hag’s line-up after a turbulent time so far at Old Trafford.

The Dutchman moved to Manchester for £40 million three years ago, but was struggling with injuries and also had to spend a period on loan at Everton.

Martial, meanwhile, made his first appearance in 79 days in last week’s friendly victory over Everton and against Burnley and came off the bench against Spurs last weekend.

The Frenchman seemed to lack match sharpness in London and started against Burnley on United’s training field.

21-year-old Facundo Pellistri – who is wanted by Nottingham Forest – started at the front in a three-pronged attack alongside Martial. There were also outings for academy products Hannibal Mejbri, Dan Gore and 20-year-old Alvaro Fernandez.

Vincent Kompany’s Burnley has brought in much-needed playing time for next weekend

Donny van de Beek (left) was also involved in the game behind closed doors for United

Fernandez is wanted by LaLiga contenders Granada in a bid to improve their early season difficulties after back-to-back losses and bottom of the Spanish top flight.

Under 23-year-old captain Teden Mengi was also involved, along with fellow academy colleagues Marc Jurado and Omari Forson.

However, new £72 million star striker Rasmus Hojlund was not involved but could potentially be fit to make his debut in Saturday’s Premier League game against Nottingham Forest.

United are trying to recover from a tough defeat to Tottenham last time, in which former captain Roy Keane labeled them ‘soft’.