Ritchie De Laet enjoyed his home début in a friendly against Valencia last night, putting in a good performance from right-back in our 2-0 win.

After the game he reveals he only found out he was playing at the last minute but Rio Ferdinand helped settle his nerves.

“I only found out I was playing when the boss did his team talk,” said De Laet. “It was short notice but I’m a professional and you need to handle that. I felt nervous in the first few minutes, but when you do a couple of good things and you’ve got Rio Ferdinand telling you you’re doing well, the nerves go down and you get on with the game. I’m really enjoying myself at the moment and it’s a dream to play in front of this crowd every week with a United shirt on. But I’m under no illusions – I need some experience. I know you only get experience by playing so whatever the boss says, I’m ready for it.”