United kicked off their tour of North America with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Celtic at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

United kicked off their tour of North America with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Celtic at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Dimitar Berbatov, who impressed throughout, gave the Reds a first half lead with a fine finish, before Bhoys substitute Georgios Samaras fired an equaliser from the spot six minutes after the restart. Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley followed suit in coming off the bench to score as they sealed victory for the Reds, who donned their new home kit for the first time.

Sir Alex gave a first start to summer signing Chris Smalling, who lined up alongside Jonny Evans at the heart of the defence with the Da Silva twins down both flanks. Captain for the evening Darren Fetcher partnered Paul Scholes in midfield, with Gabriel Obertan and Ryan Giggs, who was the big favourite amongst the Canadian fans, on the right and left wings respectively. Mame Biram Diouf lined up in attack alongside Dimitar Berbatov.

After Marc Fortune had tested Edwin van der Sar with a low drive on seven minutes, United began to take a foothold in the game and went close to breaking their tour duck soon after. Obertan showed good strength to fend off the attentions of three Celtic defenders before linking up with Giggs on the edge of the box. The United veteran flicked a lovely backheel into the Frenchman’s path but he dragged his shot wide. Diouf then crossed for Berbatov at the back post, but the Bulgarian was unable to keep his header down.