Manchester United stayed over in Cyprus on Thursday night after their turnaround victory against Omonia in the Europa League.
That 3-2 win was followed by a training session on Friday morning before United flew back to England. That comes ahead of United taking on Everton in the Premier League on Sunday night.
The Athletic has taken a look at why they chose to remain in the country.
Why did Manchester United stay over?
It takes just over five hours to fly between Cyprus and Manchester. This means it would be difficult for United to get the players back to Manchester in reasonable time after the game concluded just before 8pm last night.
It was also considered to be better physically for United to train rather than fly back in the morning.
Erik Ten Hag said: “It is best in relation to recovery and preparation for the game on Sunday.”
What do United usually do?
They usually fly home after the final whistle of their European games.
For example, when they beat Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova on 15 September, they headed straight back to the United Kingdom.
Is this atypical?
It is not standard procedure — most clubs go straight from the stadium and fly back to their home countries after late European away games.
However, United are by no means the only team to carry this out after a match abroad.
Liverpool’s usual drill after a Champions League away game is to do a recovery session in the morning after the game and then fly back to Merseyside around lunchtime.
Jurgen Klopp prefers to stay over after a European away match so the players are able to get a proper night’s sleep, rather than flying straight home and getting back at three or four in the morning.
(Photo: Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images)
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