Warren Joyce is looking forward to Manchester United's opening Premier League International Cup fixture in Tuesday.

The Red Devils U23 side take on reigning competition winner Villarreal at Leigh Sports Village in what Joyce expects to be a steep learning curve for his players.

"It'll be an interesting game," Joyce told ManUtd.com. "It will be a good test for us.

"Villarreal won it last year and, judging from the bits I've watched, the teams were quite old in their make-up and they all treated it like a proper competition really. This was particularly true of the foreign sides who often played almost their B teams, as they are called.

"I expect a tough game but a clever game, tactically, and we will have problems to solve. I anticipate them being older than us as well so it will be a proper test and should tick all the boxes you want for it to be a really good challenge for the boys as part of their education."

Spanish club Villarreal took out the second season of the U23 PLIC by beating Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in the 2015/16 final.