Manchester United defender Raphael Varane enjoyed playing alongside Lisandro Martinez for victory over Liverpool.

The £55.3m Argentine excelled in the physical duels with Liverpool's forwards and was mentored expertly by Varane, who savoured United's first Premier League success against their rivals since March 2018.

"He brings to the team his determination, his motivation and, yeah, he has this mentality, this fighting spirit," Varane said of Martinez. "He showed it tonight.

"I really enjoyed it on the pitch tonight - the atmosphere, the spirit of the team," he explained. "I came to England to feel these emotions after everything I left in Madrid, and this feeling was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

"The crowd, the fans and the fight on the pitch was amazing. Absolutely. I enjoyed it.

"We know the potential of the team but tonight we really needed a proud reaction in front of our fans. It was absolutely necessary.

"I hope it's the real starting of the season (for us) because the two first games the mentality was not good enough. We had to fight like we fight tonight.

"We know what we can do but we did it tonight and I hope we keep pushing like this. "We try to stick together. We're a team so we fight for each other. That's why I really enjoyed it."

Of his own fitness, Varane also said: "I was ready for the start of the season, but I didn't start so I had more time to keep building the fitness. We know how demanding the Premier League is, so I work a lot to be fit, to be ready.

"I have demonstrated in the past what I can do when I'm fit, so that's my focus for this season. I really want to help the team.

"Some moments in the last season were frustrating so, yeah, tonight I really enjoyed because I know the way was not easy. That's it, I know I need to be fit to enjoy."