Premier League: Wayne Rooney picks play-fights with two members of Manchester United's backroom staff

Dressing-room banter is usually limited to players but masseur Rod Thornley showed that even Premier League medical staff aren't immune when he found himself at the centre of a play-fight involving two Manchester United stars.

Twenty-four hours after Juan Mata and Ashley Young mocked Eric Bailly's white sandals - stringing the centre back's footwear up on a coat hanger and posting pictures on social media - the wave of child-like enthusiasm continued to sweep the club's Carrington training ground on Wednesday, with Thornley the latest victim.

The brother of former United trainee Ben was minding his own business during a session ahead of the visit of Fenerbahce on Thursday when he was accosted by England captain Wayne Rooney.

The striker grabbed him in a headlock before pulling him to the turf, at which point Young mimicked delivering a final blow to the ribs.

There was no malice involved in the incident, which came within a particularly cheerful training session for the Red Devils, and Thornley, Rooney and Young all laughed it off afterwards.

The masseur has been a part of the United backroom staff since the turn of the century, combining his work at club level with a role as soft tissue therapist for the Football Association.

His time with the national setup ended in 2014, however, when then-Red Devils boss Louis van Gaal insisted the former non-League striker committed himself entirely to his work at Old Trafford.

Last year, Rooney paid for Thornley, along with current England support staff Steve Kemp and Carlo Sertori, to visit Las Vegas for an end-of-season blow-out.

The Three Lions skipper - who earns £300,000 per week at United - spent £15,000 flying the medical professionals out to Sin City.

Rooney wasn't about to make do with one take-down, though, and Ricardo Formosinho was next in his sights.

Again, the striker got his target into a choke-hold, pulling the Portuguese scout down to the floor. Again, all parties involved took it in good humour.

It seemed as though Carrington was the place to be for a giggle on Wednesday morning as United continued their preparations for Fenerbahce.

After shrugging off any lingering after-effects of their bus-parking exercise at Anfield on Monday night, when Jose Mourinho's stifling tactics ensured his side took a point from their clash with Liverpool, the Red Devils' full focus has turned to the game at Old Trafford.

But despite the magnitude of the match - United can scarcely afford to lose to the Turks - there was a light-hearted air to the session.

Rooney, Young, Mourinho, Juan Mata, Marcos Rojo, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Ander Herrera were all in good spirits, with only Zlatan Ibrahimovic looking leaden-faced - perhaps the result of a run of just one goal in seven appearances for the Swede.

United fans also have reason to smile with the news that Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin were both involved in the session.

Forward Martial and midfielder Schneiderlin were missing from the matchday squad for the Liverpool stalemate after suffering knocks in training on Saturday but they look to be in contention to return against Fenerbahce.

Midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has missed the last seven games due to a thigh problem, was also involved.

The only absentee from the session was defender Phil Jones (knee), plus goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who had been involved in an under 23s match the previous evening.

Credit: Dailymail