Jesse Lingard off injured on Man Utd return but fans lift Forest ace’s gloom as he finally gets Old Trafford send-off

JESSE LINGARD’S first return to Old Trafford ended in misery as he was forced off early in the second half with a leg injury.

The England ace was playing against his former club for the first time since his summer exit.

GettyJesse Lingard was withdrawn after 53 minutes through injury[/caption]

EPALingard looked gutted when he went down[/caption]

GettyBut the ex-United man was given a warm ovation from the home fans[/caption]

But Lingard lasted just 53 minutes before he came off with what appeared to be an injury to his leg.

Lingard’s withdrawal came with Nottingham Forest trailing 2-0 thanks to first half goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.

His first ever Old Trafford outing as an away player came just days after he slammed United for their treatment of him.

The 30-year-old claimed he was sold “false promises” by the Red Devils and said he was never told why he was frozen out.

He said: “I don’t know why I wasn’t playing. I don’t know what the problem was, whether it was politics or whatever.

“I still haven’t got an answer to this day. I didn’t even ask. 

“I’d rather that someone out of respect for me being there that long told me ‘this is why you’re not playing’, but I never got that.

He played just 548 minutes across all comps last season and wasn’t even given an Old Trafford farewell in their final home game against Brentford in May.

HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON FOOTBALL

But he finally got his send of when he was replaced.

That’s because he received a warm ovation from all corners of the Theatre of Dreams when he was substituted.

It was a classy moment for a player who played more than 200 times for his boyhood club and won three major trophies, scoring in two of those finals.