Manchester United stick with Los Angeles training base during US tour despite bomb scare

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Manchester United will continue to train at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles despite a bomb scare that forced the site to be evacuated.

The emergency services swept into action shortly after 10pm local time on Wednesday night when a threat was made by phone to the campus police station while Jose Mourinho and his players were several miles away in Beverley Hills. There is accommodation available at UCLA for United but they have chosen to stay at The Montage hotel.

Students from more than a dozen halls of residence took refuge in Drake Stadium where United have been conducting daily double training sessions before they were given the all-clear to return to their rooms two hours and 20 minutes later after police with sniffer dogs declared the area safe.

Manchester United captain Michael Carrick (left) leads his team in training at UCLA

(L-R) Eric Bailly, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Chris Smalling warm up at Drake Stadium

However, United trained at the campus as usual on Thursday and say there is no reason to step up their security operation in LA.

The squad are based there for majority of their stay in the US and will return after playing Real Salt Lake in Utah and Manchester City in Houston later this month.

The club have had a temporary pool installed so the players can relax on campus between sessions rather than travelling back to their hotel in heavy local traffic.

Mourinho has often chosen the same facilities in LA during his time in charge of Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. 

Sportsmail reported on Wednesday that United have managed to secure the best pitch at Drake Stadium after a series of squabbles with Madrid who arrived in LA at the start of the week. The Spanish club’s training pitch was also used as a gathering place for students during the evacuation.

It is not the first time United have been caught up in a bomb scare. In April 2016, a game against Bournemouth was called off after a pipe bomb was found in one of the toilets at Old Trafford which was later discovered to be a dummy device left by mistake during a security exercise.