Solskjaer looks on the bright side after Astana defeat

The 6,000-mile round trip to face Astana is the furthest the Red Devils have ever travelled for a continental match, just as they have never had to contend with the kind of cold experienced around Nur-Sultan.

It was far warmer inside the Astana Arena due to the roof under which United's young side started the Europa League tie brightly, with stand-in captain Jesse Lingard opening the scoring with a fizzing low finish.

But already eliminated and previously pointless Astana grew into the Group L encounter, with Dmitri Shomko's strike and an own goal from United debutant Di'Shon Bernard sealing a surprise 2-1 win for the hosts.

"Definitely (there are positives)," manager Solskjaer said.

"Of course, we're disappointed with the end result but I thought we started the game fantastically, the boys took control of the game”.