Manchester United 4-0 Reading: Report In 60 Seconds

The gap between the Premier League big boys and the Championship was easy for all to see at Old Trafford as Reading were outclassed by Manchester United to exit the FA Cup at the first hurdle. We'll have full analysis and player ratings later on but here's the key details from a thumping defeat.

Jaap Stam made two changes from the win at Bristol City with George Evans in for the injured Paul McShane and Liam Kelly replacing John Swift. That meant Joey van den Berg moved into the defence with Chris Gunter taking the Captain's armband. As for United, they did make nine changes but still fielded a team including Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Anthony Martial.

United didn't take long to put Reading under pressure, with two shots in the opening five minutes. Yet if you were hoping they were early let offs, Jose Mourinho's side had other ideas.

On seven minutes, Martial marauded down the Reading right, nutmegged Gunter and played a deft pass to Mata, who fed Wayne Rooney to open the scoring. The goal also moving Rooney level with Sir Bobby Charlton's tally of 249 goals for United.

The pain would only get worse for the 5,000 travelling Royals, who eight minutes later watched United bag a second. This time it was Martial who finished things off, following a superb one-two with Rooney to show just why the Cup holders were prepared to pay up to £56m for his services 18-months ago.

Even the BBC's live text service piled on the misery....

Thankfully that was where the torment would end for the first half, with United failing to make the most of several other opportunities. From a Reading point of view, the best chance fell to Liam Moore but he couldn't make contact from van den Berg's volley.

Tyler Blackett's return to his old club ended in a half-time substitution, with Jordan Obita brought on. One of the sub's first significant moments saw him crunched two-footed by Ashley Young who was a lucky boy to only get a yellow, though even that should have been enough to see him dismissed after a shameful first-half dive.

Reading did their best to keep themselves in the fight but threatened little and Marcus Rashford ended any lingering comeback hopes with a third for United 15 minutes from time.

Yet there was still time for further embarrassment as Ali Al-Habsi celebrated his new contract in the worst possible way. I can't even describe it, so here's the video.

And that was that. Reading's FA Cup adventure ends at the first hurdle but at least we earned a fair few quid due to picking up 45% of a 74,369 gate, plus TV rights fees.

Hoops will be along with deeper thoughts later this weekend so stay tuned for that. Meanwhile you've got a few extra hours to get to the pub/hit the shops/eat the leftover Christmas chocolate.

Reading: Al-Habsi, Blackett (Obita), Van den Berg, Moore, Gunter, Evans (Swift), Williams, Kelly, Beerens, McCleary, Kermorgant (Samuel)