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Louis van Gaal has revealed he was astonished to find 17 United players watching the weekend Clasico.

Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-1 on Saturday and several members of the Reds squad ahead of Sunday's match with Chelsea by tuning into the clash.

Van Gaal also said one member of the matchday squad was not present, but declined to reveal who.

"We went to the Lowry, we had a screen so I could watch the second half and 17 players of 18 were there," Van Gaal explained.

"I have never experienced that before. We have a lot of Spaniards!"

"I won’t tell you which one wasn’t there. It was the quality of the game - Real Madrid vs Barcelona.

"I told the players, 'You have seen what they have done because for example, Barcelona under Gerardo Martino pressed from the front, but under Luis Enrique it is from behind.'

"Real Madrid pressed from behind, they drop in and they were very compact. After Real scored the second, the match was over because Barcelona don’t keep compact. That was the deadly."