What? A Mancunian Derby in the Pre-Season?

This is getting ridiculous.

The Premiership's hit an absolute gold mine with the foreign summer circuit.

And just like the NFL and MLB, it's gotta justify the higher ticket prices by insisting that a minimum number of big names make an appearance.

With the demand for these games being so high, it was inevitable that traditional regular-season match-ups would wind up getting cloned.

So it was that Manchester United faced off against old rival Manchester City deep in the heart of Houston, where 67,401 locals showed up for another episode of the so-called International Champions Cup.

As opposed to a match where the score mattered, who really cared that the Red Devils came away with an easy 2-0 victory?

The fans? Probably.

The players? They spent most of their time trying not to get hurt.

Not exactly derby football.

Did those two arch-nemeses -- José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola -- even care?

Gauging from the loose play, it was hard to tell.

Given time and space, though, Romelu Lukaku showed the instincts and skills for which the Red Devils paid a king's ransom:

If nothing else, dude's up to speed.

As if conceding one goal just wasn't enough, City's defense broke again two minutes later.

This time, it was Marcus Rashford reaping the benefits.

OK. Done and dusted.

Time to pick up their appearance fees and get on with training.