Man Utd keeper Heaton delighted with captaincy against Athletic Bilbao

Manchester United goalkeeper Tom Heaton was delighted to captain the team for their 1-1 preseason draw with Athletic Bilbao.

United drew 1-1 in Dublin as Facundo Pellistri grabbed a last-gasp equaliser after Nico Williams had put Athletic ahead. Aitor Paredes was sent off on 67 minutes for Athletic.

[The captaincy was] a bit of a surprise I think," Heaton told manutd.com. You know, I'm a temporary custodian for the day, but it's still a proud day. It's always an honour to captain Manchester United and I certainly enjoyed that today.

Pre-season has been good, I've really enjoyed it. I've had plenty of minutes, personally, which has been great. We've put in some really good performances.

The manager wants to step on to the next level, which is exactly what this football club should be doing. We've gone to different parts of the world, seen all the support for the football club, which has been magnificent. But I think everyone's looking forward to starting the Premier League season and getting going next week."

Heaton, 37, also said: I think if I'm totally honest, I feel absolutely brilliant. It probably helps not having to do the same mileage that the outfielders do. But I don't manage training any different than anyone else.

That's one of the things, for me: despite getting older, for me you still have to go through day in day out, do everything properly, and if you can't do that, then you might want to ask yourself the question, I think. At the minute, I feel fantastic.

Yes, don't get me wrong, you have to do everything properly, but so does every single person on that pitch. 17, 18... the demands these days. I think it was 63 games last year. I think Bruno played 62 of them. You have to have the elite-level recovery, elite-level attitude to everything. I certainly aim to do that."