Pic: Manchester United and Bastian Schweinsteiger honour the Irish students killed in Berkeley

Fair play to all involved

Manchester United picked up the second win of their pre-season tour last night with a 3-1 victory against the San Jose Earthquakes. The events on the field were insignificant though when compared to the emotion, reasoning and poignancy of the minutes silence that was held before kick-off as both sets of players and fans paid tribute to the Irish students that lost their lives following the Berkeley tragedy.

A moment's silence has just been observed for the six students who died recently when a balcony collapsed in Berkeley, California.

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 22, 2015

One player who arguably had more of a personal interest in the tragic events that unfolded was Man Utd newboy Bastian Schweinsteiger. You may recall that Dublin student Niccolai Schuster, one of the 6 students that sadly lost their lives, was a huge fan of the World Cup winner and he even had a photo of him posing alongside the former Bayern Munich man as his Facebook profile image. When Schweinsteiger heard about this, he took to social media to express his deepest sympathy that one of his fans was no longer with us and the German has paid another touching tribute to his fan. Schweinsteiger used the occasion last night to pose for this moving photo. A wonderful gesture. https://twitter.com/IrishTimes/status/623746835983659008 Credit to The Irish Times and Martin Lacey