Casemiro's attention to detail helps him adapt

The Manchester United midfielder, a five-time Champions League winner, admits he analyses his matches, watching them three or four times, in order to fine-tune his performances.

As something of a football obsessive, he is enjoying competing in the Premier League and marked his first start in the competition with an all-action display in the 2-1 win at Everton, including an assist for Cristiano Ronaldo's winner.

However, he was keen to tell United Review, the official programme for the Europa League home game with Omonia Nicosia, that the fundamental part of his job is towards the other end of the pitch.

"I look at them a lot and I enjoy it," he replied, when asked if he looks at his post-match stats for areas such as ball recovery and challenges.

"I think I watch through my games three or four times over. Yes, it's the way you learn and develop by correcting errors. I think it's key to continue evolving in football.

"I watch a lot of football. I love it. My wife gets a bit annoyed, as there is only football on at home! Football is my passion, it's my soul and I believe that's been the key to my success. I love football. I love watching football."

In the exclusive interview, Casemiro explains how he is learning English, as he continues to adapt to a division that is more physical than La Liga.

The defensive midfielder may have scored against the Reds, in the 2017 Super Cup final for Real Madrid in Macedonia, and gone close to netting for us with a diving header at Goodison Park, but insists that is not his primary function in Erik ten Hag's team.

"I think the goals have to come naturally," he said. "Everybody knows my work. My role is defensive - to help my team-mates and bring the ball out from the back with quality.

"That's my job," he outlined. "If goals come from it, excellent. We have other players whose first thought is to be scoring goals. There's Cris [Cristiano Ronaldo], [Jadon] Sancho, [Marcus] Rashford and Bruno [Fernandes]. They're on the pitch to score goals.

"I defend, first of all, and provide balance to the team. I help my team-mates with defensive work, bring the ball out with quality, that is my job. Of course, a goal here or there is nice but doing my job and defending well comes first."

The 30-year-old will look to continue to find his feet in the red shirt and impress as the games come thick and fast, before the winter pause due to the World Cup finals taking place in Qatar.

You can read the interview in full in United Review, the official programme for our home game against Omonia Nicosia.